Post Office Limited’s Board of Directors is chaired by Alice Perkins CB. As Non-Executive Chairman she is independent both of the executive management of Post Office Limited and of its shareholder, The Board comprises the Chairman, four other Non-Executive Directors and two Executive Directors..
Alice Perkins CB – Post Office Chairman (Chairman of Nominations Sub-Committee)
Alice had a wide-ranging career in the civil service, which included policy and operational roles in health, social security and public spending in the Treasury. Alice was also the Civil Service’s Group HR Director in Cabinet Office between 2001 and 2005. Before joining Post Office Limited as Chairman in September 2011, she served as Non-Executive Director on the boards of Littlewoods, BAA and TNS, where she also chaired the Remuneration Committee, Alice is an external member of the Oxford University Council, a business coach at the JCA Group, and a member of the faculty at Meyler Campbell where she teaches senior executives how to coach.
Neil McCausland – Senior Independent Director (Chairman of Remuneration Sub-Committee)
Neil has had a portfolio of non-executive roles over the last 10 years. He is currently Chairman of three companies. Snow and Rock, a retail chain selling skiing and outdoor brands, bikes and running gear; Dwell, a multi-channel contemporary furniture retailer; and Skin, a chain of skin treatment clinics specialising in laser hair removal. Until recently he was Chairman of footwear company Kurt Geiger, and a Governor of Nuffield Health, which operates hospitals and health clubs. Neil began his career at Marks &Spencer, before becoming Managing Director of C&A and Chief Executive of NAAFI (an MOD agency).
Alasdair Marnoch - Non Executive Director (Chairman of Audit, Risk and Compliance Sub-Committee)
Alasdair Marnoch joined the Board of Post Office Limited as a Non-Executive Director on 23 May 2012. A Chartered Accountant, he chair’s the Board’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Sub-Committee which reviews the statutory accounts and financial controls. Alasdair has had wide experience as Finance Director of a number of FMCG and service businesses, including listed companies. Most recently he served as CFO of the Equiniti Group, a leading provider of complex administration and processing services to the public and private sectors.
Tim Franklin - Non-executive Director
Tim Franklin joined the Board of Post Office Limited as a Non-Executive Director on 19 September 2012. Tim was Chief Operating Officer to the Co-operative Banking Group until the end of 2011, having previously served as Managing Director of the Britannia Building Society. Prior to that, he was Director of Customer Programmes and Loyalty and Managing Director of Savings at Barclays. Tim’s experience extends across the private and public sectors. He is also a Non-Executive Director of HM Land Registry and was previously on the Boards of Reclaim Fund Limited, Mutual Plus Limited and the Link Cash Machines Network.
Virginia Holmes - Non-Executive Director (Chairman of Pensions Sub-Committee)
Virginia brings to the Board extensive knowledge of the financial services industry including both investment management and banking. Her experience includes serving as Chief Executive of AXA Investment Managers UK and more than a decade with the Barclays Bank Group where she ultimately served as Managing Director of Barclays Bank Trust Company. Virginia currently serves on the boards and chairs the investment committees of both the Alberta Investment Management Corporation in Canada and the Universities Superannuation Scheme in the UK. She also serves on the boards of Standard Life Investments Ltd and JPMorgan Claverhouse Investment Trust plc.
Susannah Storey – Non-Executive Director
Susannah Storey is the representative of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the Post Office Limited Board. She has recently been appointed as Director of Corporate Strategy and Change at the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Susannah has been a civil servant since 2006, working at the Shareholder Executive until 2013 in a number of roles including Head of the Royal Mail and Postal Services team and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to the Shareholder Executive, Susannah worked in investment banking at Citigroup and Schroders, specialising in UK Corporate Finance.
Paula Vennells – Chief Executive
Paula has worked for Post Office Limited since 2007 in a number of senior roles including Managing Director. She became Chief Executive on 1 April 2012. Previously Paula spent five years with Whitbread plc as Group Commercial Director. She began her career with Unilever and L’Oreal and held directorships in sales and marketing with a number of major retailers including Dixons Stores Group and Argos. She is currently a Non-Executive Director and Trustee for Hymns Ancient and Modern Group.
Chris Day – Chief Financial Officer
Chris joined Post Office Ltd in August 2011 from the BBC where he had been Group Financial Controller since 2005. Prior to that, Chris spent 14 years in FMCG with Grand Metropolitan/Diageo in a succession of Treasury/Corporate Finance roles in the UK, and as Finance Director in the Netherlands and subsequently Germany/Austria. Earlier in his career Chris worked as a financial management consultant at KPMG having started his career with Beecham Group.
Alwen Lyons – Company Secretary
Alwen Lyons joined the Post Office Limited in 1984 as a graduate entrant and has worked at a senior level in several directorates including network, finance and marketing. She became the Company Secretary in July 2011, after leading the project to separate Post Office Limited from Royal Mail Group.
Board responsibilities
The responsibilities of the Board include setting the company’s strategic aims, providing the leadership to put them into effect, supervising the management of the business and reporting to the shareholder.
There are number Board committees which deal with specific topics requiring independent oversight including Audit, Risk and Compliance, Nominations of the Board, Pensions and Senior Remuneration.
Each Committee is chaired by a Non-Executive Director and operates within its own agreed, documented Terms of Reference.
If you are a Post Office customer and wish to contact us, please visit the Contact us page.
You can get information about the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Post Office Limited from the registered office or by email at POLBoard@postoffice.co.uk
Registered Address
Post Office Ltd, 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HQ
The Post Office Ltd Executive Committee is responsible for devising and implementing the Post Office strategy of growth, investment and modernisation, making sure our customers are at the heart of everything we do.
Paula Vennells – Chief Executive
Paula has worked for Post Office Limited since January 2007 in a number of senior roles including Managing Director, and she became Chief Executive on 1 April 2012. Previous to this, Paula spent five years with Whitbread plc as Group Commercial Director and began her career with Unilever and L’Oreal. She has also held directorships in sales and marketing with a number of major retailers including Dixons Stores Group and Argos. She is currently Non-Executive Director and Trustee for Hymns Ancient and Modern Group.
Sue Barton - Strategy Director
Sue Barton joined the Executive Committee of the Post Office as Strategy Director in September 2012. Her experience includes extensive time within postal consultancy, at Accenture and PA Consulting where she has worked with many of the leading international postal organisations providing support and advice across a broad spectrum of areas. These include strategy development, improving quality of service, conducting operational reviews, developing new organisational models, commercial renegotiation and structuring of commercial arrangements, as well as expertise in technology innovation and competition in both the UK and Europe.
Susan Crichton – HR and Corporate Services Director
Susan joined Post Office Ltd in January 2010 as Legal and Compliance Director which in turn changed to Lead Counsel. On the 29 of August 2012 Susan’s role developed to her current HR and Corporate Services Director position. Prior to this, she spent eight years with GE Money as General Counsel, EMEA, responsible for Legal Compliance & Government Relations. Susan has worked for 20 years in-house, as Legal Company Secretary, with significant experience in Risk and Compliance.
Mark Davies - Communications Director
Mark joined Post Office Ltd as Communications Director in July 2012 after two years as Communications and Campaigns Director for the charity Rethink Mental Illness. Prior to that he spent five years as Special Adviser to the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, working in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the House of Commons and the Ministry of Justice. He worked as Special Adviser to Baroness Amos, then Leader of the House of Lords, for 18 months in 2004-05. Mark began his career in journalism in 1990 and during 13 years as a reporter, writer and editor he worked for the Liverpool Echo, the Liverpool Daily Post, CNN and the BBC.
Chris Day – Chief Financial Officer
Chris joined Post Office Ltd in August 2011 from the BBC where he had been Group Financial Controller since 2005. Prior to that, Chris spent 14 years in FMCG with Grand Metropolitan/Diageo in a succession of Treasury/Corporate Finance roles in the UK, and as Finance Director in the Netherlands and subsequently Germany/Austria. Earlier in his career Chris worked as a financial management consultant at KPMG having started his career with Beecham Group.
Martin Edwards - Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive
Martin Edwards joined Post Office in September 2012 as Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive. Prior to that he spent 10 years at HM Treasury and other government departments working on a wide range of finance and public policy issues, including the restructuring of Northern Rock, reform of the welfare system, the spending review process and international police co-operation.
Kevin Gilliland – Network & Sales Director
Kevin joined Post Office Ltd over 30 years ago as a counter clerk and has gained significant experience in Sales and Account Management. Kevin also managed major partners of Post Office Ltd, including government departments and banks during the development of the initial Card Account and universal banking. More recently, Kevin had been leading the work on developing the Network Strategy and Operating Models.
Fay Healey - Chief HR Officer
Fay Healey has worked for the Post Office for the majority of her career and became Chief HR Officer in September 2012. During her career she has worked in both retail management and supply chain management before deciding to specialise in HR Management. Within HR she has held a number of senior roles and covered all disciplines of the profession. Fay is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and an accredited Business Performance Coach.
Nick Kennett – Financial Services Director
Nick is an experienced financial services executive, and joined Post Office Ltd in July 2011. He was previously Managing Director of epay UK Limited, a specialist retail payments business, and spent three years in Singapore as General Manager Strategic Business Development of Visa International Asia Pacific. Nick lived for a number of years in Australia and, as Head of Retail Customer Services at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, he was accountable for all the retail banking and financial services product and segment strategies.
Alwen Lyons - Company Secretary
Alwen Lyons joined the Post Office in 1984 as a graduate entrant and has worked at a senior level in several parts of the business including network, finance and marketing. Alwen spent eight and a half years as a Royal Mail Pension Trustee and was also the Chairman of the Pension Audit Committee. She is a qualified accountant and became the Company Secretary in July 2011, after leading the project to separate Post Office Limited from Royal Mail Group.
Martin Moran – Commercial Director
Martin joined the Post Office Ltd in 2007 initially to manage the Telecoms Business Unit. Subsequently to this, Martin was asked to lead the Financial Services Business Unit in addition to his existing Telecoms responsibilities. He was promoted to Commercial Director in 2010 with responsibility for the Mails and Retail, Government and Telecoms business units, web channel, Marketing and Strategy functions. Prior to joining the Post Office Martin worked for Cable & Wireless and Global Crossing holding senior Marketing, Sales and Managing Director Roles in the UK, USA and Asia.
Lesley Sewell – Chief Information Officer
Lesley joined Post Office Ltd in April 2010 from Northern Rock where she had been Managing Director for IT since 2005. She has held a number of IT leadership positions delivering large business and IT Transformational change, and supporting major business restructures. For Post Office, she is responsible for the development and delivery of the IT Strategy in support of the business transformation plans, delivering a transformed IT estate and operating model.
Registered Address
Post Office Ltd, 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HQ
