Management
The board comprises of the Chairman, Chief Executive, Chief Financial Officer and a number of non-executive directors.
Adam Crozier Chairman
Career
Adam was Chief Executive of ITV plc from 2010 to 2017. During his time as Chief Executive, ITV was transformed into a global media player of scale, delivering consistently good growth and with increasing emphasis on international content creation and distribution. Prior to ITV, Adam was Chief Executive of Royal Mail, where he led its modernisation and transformed it from a heavily loss making position to profitability. He has also been CEO of The Football Association and joint CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi. Adam has served as Chairman of Vue International, ASOS, and Stage Entertainment.
Committee membership
- Remuneration Committee
- Nomination Committee (Chair)
Leadership tenure
Appointed Chairman March 2018
Adam previously served on Whitbread’s Board as an independent non-executive director from April 2017
Nationality
British
External appointments
- BT Group plc (Chairman)
- Kantar Group (Chairman)
Dominic Paul Chief Executive
Career
Dominic is an experienced senior executive, with a very strong operational and commercial record in the travel, leisure and hospitality sector and has a track record of growing and transforming brands both in the UK and internationally. Dominic was previously a member of the Whitbread Executive Committee and Managing Director of Costa Coffee for three years, before serving as CEO of Domino’s Pizza Group Plc where he led the business through the COVID-19 pandemic, delivered a strong period of sales growth and value creation and aligned all stakeholders behind a growth strategy for the future.
Previously Dominic was Senior Vice President of International with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line where he led the business through a period of strong growth. His extensive experience in the travel and leisure industry also includes senior roles at easyJet, British Midland and British Airways.
Leadership tenure
Appointed January 2023
Nationality
British
Hemant Patel Chief Financial Officer
Career
Hemant joined Whitbread in 2018 as UK Finance Director, having previously been Finance Director of Greene King Pub Co. He also worked at ASDA-Walmart for 11 years, carrying out various management roles including Commercial Finance Director, Director of Own Label and Director of Strategy. He also had several finance roles over six years at Mars, Inc. He was Chair of the Royal Armouries Museum and was awarded an MBE for services to Museums and Heritage in the 2020 Birthday Honours List. He also received the Arts and Business Individual of the Year award in 2007 for his work with Interplay Theatre.
Leadership tenure
Appointed March 2022
Nationality
British
External appointments
- 3i Group PLC (non-executive Director)
Richard Gillingwater Senior Independent Director
Career
Richard was Chairman of Janus Henderson Group plc from 2017 to the end of 2022, and served as a non-executive director of Helical PLC and was former Pro-Chancellor of the Open University. Richard also served as Chairman of SSE PLC from 2015 to 2021. Richard is a highly experienced executive and has spent much of his career in corporate finance and investment banking with Kleinwort Benson, BZW and Credit Suisse First Boston, before he moved out of banking and became Chief Executive of the Shareholder Executive and then Dean of Bayes Business School.
Committee membership
- Remuneration Committee
- Nomination Committee
Leadership tenure
Appointed June 2018
Nationality
British
External appointments
- Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc (Independent Non-executive Director & Senior Independent Director)
- Wellcome Trust (Chair of Investment Committee)
Kal Atwal Independent non-executive director
Career
Kal has over 14 years’ executive experience at BGL Group Limited in various roles, including founding Managing Director of comparethemarket.com. Kal was also Chair of Simply Cook, a tech enabled meal kit subscription service, prior to its sale to Nestlé.
Kal began her career at EY in Madrid, after which she held a number of operational and strategic roles with Southern Derbyshire Chamber and Northcliffe Media Ltd. Kal is an experienced strategic leader with international experience in start-up, scale-up, fintech and digital businesses.
Committee membership
- Remuneration Committee
- Nomination Committee
Leadership tenure
Appointed March 2021
Nationality
British
External appointments
- OSB Group PLC (non-executive director)
- Royal London Group (non-executive director)
- Funky Pigeon Limited (Chair)
Karen Jones DBE Independent non-executive director
Career
Karen is Senior Independent director at Deliveroo plc and The Crown Estate and the Chair at Hawksmoor. Karen previously served as Executive Chair at Prezzo and Senior Independent director at Booker plc. Karen has a wealth of experience in the restaurant, food and hospitality sectors having founded Café Rouge and led the formation of Spirit Group as CEO.
Karen also has strong experience in executive remuneration, having previously chaired the remuneration committees at ASOS plc and Booker plc.
Committee membership
- Remuneration Committee
- Nomination Committee
Leadership tenure
Appointed January 2023
Nationality
British
External Appointments
- Deliveroo plc (Senior Independent non‑executive director)
- The Crown Estate (Senior non‑executive director)
- Underdog Group Limited (Hawksmoor – Chair)
- Imbiba Growth LLP (advisory board member)
- Bricks and Fuel Limited (director)
- National Theatre Enterprises Ltd (Chair)
- Mowgli Street Food (non-executive director)
Cilla Snowball DBE Independent non-executive director
Career
Cilla has a wealth of advertising, marketing and digital experience, being made a Dame in 2017 for her services to advertising, diversity and equality.
Cilla started her career in advertising and served as Group Chief Executive at Abbott Mead Vickers BDDO Ltd from 2006 to 2018, also sitting on the BBDO Worldwide Board, and Chair of both the Advertising Association and the Women’s Business Council.
Committee membership
- Nomination Committee
- Audit Committee
Leadership tenure
January 2023
Nationality
British
External appointments
- Derwent London plc (non‑executive director)
- University of Birmingham (Deputy Pro Chancellor and Chair of the remuneration committee)
- Wellcome Trust (Governor)
Frank Fiskers Independent non-executive director
Career
Frank spent ten years with Scandic Hotels Group and served twice as President & CEO from 2007 to 2010 and from 2013 to 2018. Between September 2010 and September 2012, he was a non-executive director at the Group. He has experience in several countries in Europe and Africa.
Frank has served as Chairman of Norstedt and Akademibokhandln. He has also served as a board member of the Swedish Hospitality Employers Association, the Dame Thomas Foundation for Young People, and the British Hospitality Association.
Committee membership
- Remuneration Committee (Chair)
- Nomination Committee
- Audit Committee
Leadership tenure
Appointed February 2019
Nationality
Danish
External appointments
- Shurgard Self Storage SA (Non-executive director)
Horst Baier Independent non-executive director
Career
Horst was Chief Financial Officer of TUI AG, the London‑listed Anglo-German leisure travel group, for eight years until the end of September 2018. During his time at TUI AG, Horst played an important role in TUI’s transformation from a tour operator to a global provider of holidays.
Committee membership
- Nomination Committee
- Audit Committee
Leadership tenure
Appointed November 2019
Nationality
German
External appointments
- Bayer AG (Member of Supervisory Board)
- Ecclesia Holding GmbH, Detmold (Member of the voluntary Supervisory Board)
- DIAKOVERE GmbH, Hannover (Member of the voluntary Supervisory Board)
Chris Kennedy Non-executive director
Career
Chris is Chief Financial Officer of ITV PLC which he joined in February 2019.
Prior to this, Chris held roles with Micro Focus International plc, ARM Holdings plc and easyJet plc, having previously spent 17 years in a variety of senior roles at EMI.
Chris was voted FTSE 100 CFO in 2015.
Committee membership
- Audit Committee (Chair)
- Nomination Committee
Leadership tenure
Appointed March 2016
Nationality
British
External appointments
- ITV PLC (Chief Financial Officer)
- The EMI Group Archive Trust (Trustee)
- Great Ormond Street Hospital Trust (Trustee)
- Tesco PLC (Independent non-executive director)
Shelley Roberts Independent non-executive director
Career
Shelley is currently the Group Chief Commercial Officer at Compass Group PLC, where she is responsible for leading the Group’s Global Clients, Strategy, M&A, Health & Safety, Sustainability, Digital and Procurement functions.
Shelley has vast experience in the travel and hospitality sector, having served as Managing Director of Compass Group’s Australian business and previous to this holding leadership roles at easyJet, Tiger Airways and Sydney Airport.
Committee membership:
- Audit Committee
- Nomination Committee
Leadership tenure
Appointed November 2023
Nationality
Austrian
External Appointments
- Compass Group (Chief Commercial Officer)
The Executive Committee comprises of the Whitbread PLC Executive Directors and a number of Senior Executives.
Dominic Paul Chief Executive
Career
Dominic is an experienced senior executive, with a very strong operational and commercial record in the travel, leisure and hospitality sector and has a track record of growing and transforming brands both in the UK and internationally. Dominic was previously a member of the Whitbread Executive Committee and Managing Director of Costa Coffee for three years, before serving as CEO of Domino’s Pizza Group Plc where he led the business through the COVID-19 pandemic, delivered a strong period of sales growth and value creation and aligned all stakeholders behind a growth strategy for the future.
Previously Dominic was Senior Vice President of International with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line where he led the business through a period of strong growth. His extensive experience in the travel and leisure industry also includes senior roles at easyJet, British Midland and British Airways.
Leadership tenure
Appointed January 2023
Nationality
British
Erik Friemuth Chief Executive Officer, Premier Inn Germany
Career
Erik joined Whitbread in January 2024 as Chief Executive for Premier Inn Germany.
Erik has more than 20 years’ experience in marketing. Erik served for nine years as Group Chief Marketing Officer at TUI AG, one of the world’s leading tourism businesses. His responsibilities included brand strategy and communication. Prior to that, Erik held a number of senior positions at Vodafone Deutschland.
Leadership Tenure
Appointed January 2024
Nationality
German
Hemant Patel Chief Financial Officer
Career
Hemant joined Whitbread in 2018 as UK Finance Director, having previously been Finance Director of Greene King Pub Co. He also worked at ASDA-Walmart for 11 years, carrying out various management roles including Commercial Finance Director, Director of Own Label and Director of Strategy. He also had several finance roles over six years at Mars, Inc. He was Chair of the Royal Armouries Museum and was awarded an MBE for services to Museums and Heritage in the 2020 Birthday Honours List. He also received the Arts and Business Individual of the Year award in 2007 for his work with Interplay Theatre.
Leadership tenure
Appointed March 2022
Nationality
British
External appointments
- 3i Group PLC (non-executive Director)
Joe Garrood Chief Commercial Officer
Career
Joe joined Whitbread in December 2023 as Chief Commercial Officer. He is responsible for the Group’s commercial strategy including revenue management, brand development and marketing across the UK and Germany.
Before joining Whitbread, Joe was the Chief Commercial Officer at Pure Gym, the second largest gym operator in Europe with operations in six countries. His responsibilities included commercial management, marketing, insight and analytics for the Group. He also has 20 years’ experience in private equity, executive management and consulting.
Leadership tenure
Appointment December 2023
Nationality
British
Mark Anderson Managing Director, Property and International
Career
Mark Anderson joined Whitbread in January 2006 and was appointed to his current role in September 2016.
Mark is responsible for the acquisition, development and management of Whitbread’s substantial property portfolio. He also leads Whitbread’s International businesses, overseeing development and operations in Germany and the Middle East, including management of food & beverages overseas and mergers & acquisitions.
Before joining Whitbread, Mark spent 16 years at J Sainsbury PLC in a variety of senior positions, finally managing all aspects of the property estate.
Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and has a Masters in Business Administration from Henley Business School.
Leadership tenure
Appointed September 2016
Nationality
British
External appointments
- Great Portland Estates PLC (Non-executive director)
- Tourism For All UK (Trustee)
Mark Smith Chief Technology Officer
Career
Mark joined Whitbread in August 2024 as Chief Technology Officer.
Mark has 25 years’ worth of experience working in hospitality and retail, implementing large scale technology change programmes and delivering value for customers, colleagues and shareholders.
Mark joined Whitbread from SSP Group, a global food & beverage operator, where he managed the digital and technology strategy for over 3000 food, beverage and retail outlets in travel locations across 38 countries. Prior to this, Mark served as Chief Information Officer, Asia at Tesco for five years and prior to that worked with Accenture and Mark & Spencer.
Leadership tenure
Appointed August 2024
Nationality
British
Rachel Howarth Chief People Officer
Career
Rachel was the Group HR Director with SSP Group PLC for six years, and the Managing Director of the Netherlands division alongside her HR role. During this time, Rachel led a global team delivering people strategy for 40,000 employees across six continents, in 35 countries – including Germany.
Prior to SSP, Rachel spent sixteen years with Tesco Plc, in operational and human resource capacities. Prior to Tesco, Rachel served as an officer in the Royal Air Force, specialising in logistics and supply chain.
Leadership tenure
Appointed July 2021
Nationality
British
Simon Ewins Managing Director UK Hotels & Restaurants
Career
Simon is responsible for all Hotel and Restaurants portfolio operations across the UK and Ireland and has worked for Whitbread in multiple senior executive roles for 17 years including :
- Operations Director, Restaurants Division
- Business Development Director, Premier Inn & Restaurants
- Corporate Social Responsibility Director, Whitbread Plc
- Chief Operating Officer, Premier Inn
A hospitality sector veteran of 30 years, prior to joining Whitbread, he spent time in other large scale hospitality companies, both Plc and Private Equity backed.
Leadership tenure
Appointed October 2018
Nationality
British
External appointments
- Connexus – Social Housing sector (Non-executive director)
- Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity – Corporate Board (Board member)
Clare Thomas General Counsel and Company Secretary
Career
Clare joined Whitbread as General Counsel and Company Secretary in June 2023, having previously held a similar position at Britvic from 2013 to 2023. Prior to this, she was a corporate/M&A partner at law firm Addleshaw Goddard LLP, where she had a particular focus on working with consumer-facing businesses in retail, consumer brands, leisure and hospitality.
As well as being General Counsel and Company Secretary, Clare is also the Executive Committee member responsible for Whitbread’s sustainability programme, Force for Good.
Board tenure
Appointed June 2023
Nationality
British
