Directors’ profiles

David (1946) was appointed to the Board on 6 March 2006 and became the Chairman of easyJet on 1 July 2009. He is currently Deputy Chairman of Marks and Spencer plc and is also Non Executive Director of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc and the Jumeirah Group. David has held a number of senior management and plc board positions in the leisure industry. He spent 15 years with Grand Metropolitan, mainly in sales and marketing, which culminated in a board position as Worldwide Marketing Director. In 1989, he became Deputy Chairman of Hilton UK and Executive Vice President, Hilton International. He joined Stakis in 1991, as Chief Executive, and became Group Chief Executive of the Hilton Group (formerly Ladbroke Group) in June 2000, a position he held until 2006. He was previously Senior Independent Director at British Land Plc and Arcadia Plc. He is the current President of the British Hospitality Association and was knighted in June 2006 for services to the hospitality industry.

Michael (1948) was appointed Deputy Chairman on 1 June 2009. He is Chairman of BT Group plc, The UK Commission for Employment and Skills, as well as a Director of Barclays plc, McGraw-Hill, Inc and the Financial Reporting Council. He is also Chairman of the private equity oversight group, the Guidelines Monitoring Committee. From May 2002 to September 2007, Michael was Chairman of KPMG International. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of KPMG International, he was Chairman of KPMG in Europe and Senior Partner of KPMG in the UK.

Andrew (1957) became Chief Executive Officer on 1 December 2005. He was previously the Chief Executive of RAC plc prior to its acquisition by Aviva plc in 2005. Andrew joined Lex Service plc in 1996 as Chief Executive and led its transformation from a vehicle distribution company into RAC plc, a strongly-branded, consumer-facing services company with 6.5 million members. RAC plc delivered strong growth in a variety of consumer services, which included BSM, financial and legal services, as well as good expansion in business services, winning large contracts. The successful integration of Lex and RAC resulted in a strong rise in profits and a tripling of the share price during Andrew’s tenure as Chief Executive. Andrew was a Non Executive Director at Emap between 2000 and 2008 where he also chaired the Audit Committee. Prior to Lex Service, Andrew was an Executive Director of Courtaulds Textiles plc.

David (1962) was appointed to the Board on 1 October 2005 and is Chairman of the Audit Committee. He was recently appointed as a Director of Pacnet Limited. Prior to this, David was an Executive Director of Abbey National Plc and was Group Chief Executive of Alliance & Leicester plc having previously served as Group Finance Director. David held a number of senior management positions at Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society and Lloyds TSB. He was also an Executive Director of the National Bank of New Zealand Limited and is a member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Sven (1953) was appointed to the Board of easyJet in March 2008. A graduate of Stanford University, he was previously CEO of Lucien Barrière Group and was recently appointed CEO of Pierre & Vacances/Center Parcs Group, a €1.5 billion turnover company leader on the continent of resort and leisure lodging. He previously held a number of senior management roles over a 15 year period at the French hotels group, Accor. He was also a Non Executive Director of lastminute.com from 2003 until its sale to Sabre in 2005.

John (1963) joined easyJet in September 2007. He is currently Chief Executive Officer of DSG International plc, a position he has held since December 2007. Prior to joining DSG International, John was the Operations Development Director of Tesco plc. He joined Tesco as Group Strategy Director in 1998 and held a number of Executive Director positions in the company including running Tesco.com from 2000 to 2004 where he was responsible for formulating and delivering its strategy from launch to profitability.

A graduate of Cambridge University and Wharton Business School, John was at the Boston Consulting Group between 1993 and 1998.

Rigas (1939) was appointed to the Board on 1 December 2005. Rigas is an aviation consultant and strategy adviser to airlines, airports, banks and governments around the world. He is Chairman of the European Aviation Club in Brussels and a Non Executive Director of GMR Hyderabad International Airport, India. He is a former Chairman/CEO of Olympic Airways and was formerly a Non Executive Director of South African Airways. Rigas is also a visiting Professor at Cranfield University and the author of books on aviation economics and management.

Stelios (1967) founded easyJet in 1995. He was easyJet’s Non Executive Chairman until November 2002 and was reappointed to the Board in May 2005. A graduate of the London School of Economics and City University Business School, Stelios founded his first business, Stelmar Tankers, in 1992. This shipping company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001 and was sold in 2005 to OSG shipping group.

Since 1999 Stelios has set up some 16 other “easy”-branded ventures, which are capitalised and managed separately from easyJet within easyGroup Holdings Ltd, Stelios’ private investment vehicle. An up-to-date list of these businesses can be found on www.easy.com. easyGroup owns the “easy” brand and licenses it to the various easy-branded ventures (including easyJet) and is also a major shareholder in easyJet plc. Stelios was knighted in November 2006 for services to entrepreneurship.

Keith (1952) was appointed to the Board on 1 March 2009. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, is Chairman of Travelodge and was Chairman of Go, prior to its acquisition by easyJet in 2002. He has considerable experience as a Director of listed companies, is currently the Chairman of Tullett Prebon and Alterian and was Chairman of Luminar and Moss Bros. He is also a Director of Collins Stewart and has previously been a Director of Electrocomponents and Cadmus Communications Corp. He was Finance Director of WH Smith, Forte and United Distillers and a Partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers. He also chairs the board of the University of Nottingham.

Bob (1950), was appointed to the board on 1 August 2009. He is Senior Partner in the London-based accountancy firm of Blick Rothenberg. Bob is a Governor of Highgate School and a Trustee of The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment. He was made an MBE in the 2007 New Year’s Honours List for services to business and to the community in London.