Kingfisher has appointed former Halfords and Coles boss to its board

B&Q owner Kingfisher has brought in Ian MacLeod as a non-executive director, and expects to benefit from his 40 years of experience in retail.

MacLeod was most recently group chief executive of DFI Retail Group, where he was in charge of 10,500 stores across 13 Asian countries. As well as Halfords, he has held senior roles at Asda, Walmart International and Australian group Coles and US business Southeastern Grocers.

Kingfisher chair Claudia Arney said: “We are delighted to have someone of Ian’s calibre joining our board. His long and distinguished career in retail speaks for itself and the depth of experience that he will bring will help support the execution of our strategic initiatives. We look forward to welcoming Ian later this month and benefiting from the new and valuable perspectives he will bring to the board’s discussions.

Separately, Kingfisher senior independent director Catherine Bradley is to stand down and will after the retailer’s AGM in June. She has been a Kingfisher’s board member for four years.

Arney said: I would like to thank her for her many contributions to the company over the past four years, both as senior independent director and as the board representative on the Kingfisher Colleague Forum. In recent months Catherine has led the chair succession process and played a pivotal role in ensuring that we have continuity of leadership at such an important time in Kingfisher’s strategic journey.”