Ted Baker appoints ex-Sports Direct CFO as non-executive director

Ted Baker has appointed Jon Kempster as an independent non-executive director effective immediately.

Kempster has previously held board positions at Sports Direct, where he served as chief financial officer.

He has also held senior positions at Delta, Fii Group, Linden and Low and Bonar. Kempster also held the position as a non-director and audit committee chair at Redcentric since January 2017.

Kempster succeeds Ron Stewart, who has stepped down after nine years as a non-executive director.

The news follows as CEO Lyndsay Page and chairman David Bernstein departed from the lifestyle brand earlier this month after the retailer issued its latest profit warning.

Kempster will assume the role of chair of the Audit and Risk committee and will also join the Remuneration committee. Helena Feltham also  assumes the role of senior independent director.

Kempster said: “Ted Baker is a strong global brand and I am pleased to be joining the board at an important time in the Group’s ongoing development.”

Sharon Baylay, acting chair of Ted Baker added: “We are delighted that Jon has joined the board of Ted Baker. Jon has a wealth of relevant public company experience in multinational organisations across a range of sectors. 

“In particular, he has a strong track record in the areas of corporate development, strategy implementation, and operational performance transformation.”