The Board

Anthony Hobson
Chairman •†‡

Joined the Board in 2002 and became Chairman in 2005. He is Chairman of The Sage Group plc, and a non-executive director of HBOS plc, Glas Cymru and Esure. He was formerly Group Finance Director of Legal & General Group plc from 1987 to 2001. He chairs the nomination committee.

Stefan Barden
Chief Executive

Joined the Board in 2006 and was appointed Chief Executive in 2007on 5 February 2007. He was formerly Managing Director of Heinz UK and Ireland from 2003 to 2005. He has extensive experience of the food industry having held roles with Iceland, McKinsey & Company and Unilever. He is a governor of the British Nutrition Foundation charity, sits on the Policy issues committee of the IGD and is a director of Improve, the UK's food and drink sector skills council.

Jez Maiden
Chief Finance Officer

Joined the Board in 2005. He was formerly Group Finance Director of British Vita plc, a position he held from 2002. Prior to that, he was Director of Finance of Britannia Building Society and Group Finance Director of Hickson International plc. Jez is a non-executive director of Yule Catto & Co plc.

Orna Ni-Chionna
Senior independent director and non-executive director •*†‡

Joined the Board in 2002 as a non-executive director. She was formerly a partner of McKinsey & Company. She is a non-executive director of Bank of Ireland UK Holdings plc, Bristol and West plc and BUPA, and is a member of the Apax Partners' Retail and Consumer Advisory Boards. She is Vice Chair of the Soil Association. She is the senior independent director and chairs the remuneration committee.

David Nish
non-executive director •*†‡

Joined the Board in 2005 as a non-executive director. He is Group Finance Director of Standard Life plc and was formerly Executive Director, Infrastructure of Scottish Power plc, and prior to that he was Group Finance Director, a position that he held since 1999. He was formerly a partner of Pricewaterhouse. He chairs the audit committee.

Ronnie Bell
non-executive director •*‡

Joined the Board in 2005 as a non-executive director. He was formerly President of Kraft Foods Europe until 2004. He is Chairman of Milk Link and is a non-executive director of Ansell Limited and The Edrington Group Limited.

Tony Illsley
non-executive director •*†‡

Joined the Board in 2006 as a non-executive director. He was formerly Chief Executive of Telewest plc until 2000, and has held roles with PepsiCo and Colgate Palmolive. He is Chairman of CacheLogic Ltd, holds a non-executive position with GCap Media plc, and is a trustee of the charity Whizz-Kidz.

Carol Williams
Company Secretary

Joined Northern Foods in 1990. She is Head of Legal and was appointed Company Secretary in March 2005. She is a director of C&I Group Services Limited.