Gerry Murphy to Become Chairman of British Supermarket Group Tesco
LONDON — Burberry chairman Gerry Murphy has taken on an additional job heading up the board of directors at the British supermarket Tesco Plc.
Murphy will remain in place at Burberry while taking up the new role at Tesco on Sept. 1. As a result of the changes, Murphy will step down as chairman of Tate & Lyle Plc, the British food and beverage ingredients firm as of Sept. 1.
More from WWD
At Tesco, Murphy will replace John Allan, who stepped down last month following reports in The Guardian newspaper of alleged “inappropriate and unprofessional” behavior toward four female colleagues.
Murphy, who has decades of experience in overseeing companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, became chair of Burberry in July 2018. He took over from John Peace, who was with the company for 16 years.
At the time, Murphy was chairman of Tate and Lyle Plc and The Blackstone Group International Partners LLP.
He has also served as a chair and senior board member for companies including British American Tobacco, Merlin Entertainments and Reckitt Benckiser. He was previously the chief executive officer of Kingfisher, Carlton Communications, Exel and Greencore Group.
During the pandemic, Murphy helped Burberry to strategize alongside the former CEO Marco Gobbetti.
In late 2021 he became chair of Burberry’s executive committee and took over some of the CEO responsibilities after Gobbetti quit the British brand to become CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo.
Murphy was also instrumental in naming Jonathan Akeroyd, who joined Burberry in March 2022, as CEO.
At the time, Murphy said that Akeroyd “shares our values and our ambition to build on Burberry’s unique British creative heritage, and his deep luxury and fashion industry expertise will be key to advancing the next phase of Burberry’s evolution.”
Best of WWD
