Lord Myners to join Co-op board with governance brief
FORMER ‘City Minister’ Lord Myners has been appointed to the Co-op Group board and will also chair a governance review.
The appointment comes at a key time for the group which is trying to stabilise the Co-op Bank with a £1.5bn rescue deal, and restore its reputation following the arrest of former bank chairman Paul Flowers over allegations he bought and used illegal drugs.
Lord Myners was the financial services minister in Gordon Brown’s government from 2008-10 and he has previously been the chairman of Marks & Spencer, the Guardian Media Group and Land Securities.
Chief executive Euan Sutherland said: “He brings significant and valuable experience across a number of fields and will be a great asset as we work through the final stages of the recapitalisation of the bank and move to take the wider group to the next phase of its development. His leadership on the governance review will be crucial.
“I lead a dynamic, new management team and we have already started to make real progress on the important work of rebuilding the group, having stabilised the bank. What our customers, colleagues and wider membership base needs is an organisation and a business that they can be proud of again and I believe that Paul has a key role to play in helping us deliver that.”
The group is also looking for two other non-executive directors to “further enhance the mix of skills and experience on the board”. It said the governance review will look in detail at the group’s democracy and the constitution of the board.
