Kingfisher gains a new Group Finance Director

Kingfisher, the owner of B&Q and Screwfix, has appointed Karen Witts as its new group finance director.

Witts will join Kingfisher from Vodafone, where she is currently chief financial officer for Africa, Middle East, Asia and Asia Pacific, a division with sales of £13.9 billion. She will take up her new role in October when she will succeed Kevin O'Byrne who is to become Kingfisher divisional CEO at B&Q.

A chartered accountant, Witts has held her present position at Vodafone since June 2010. Previously she worked at BT Group for more than 10 years, most recently as chief financial officer of BT Retail. Her earlier career included financial and accounting positions at Grand Metropolitan, (now Diageo), Mars Electronics and The Observer newspaper. Witts is currently a non-executive director of Wolseley plc.

Commenting on the appointment, Ian Cheshire, Kingfisher's group chief executive, said: "I am delighted that Karen is joining Kingfisher. She has an outstanding financial and operational background at BT and Vodafone, where her international experience will be very helpful. Her appointment will complete the group executive team at Kingfisher. It is a strong, diverse senior management team, ready for the next phase of our growth plan under Kingfisher's 'Creating the Leader' programme."

Witts added: "It is a great opportunity to be joining a growing, international retailer at such an interesting time in its development. I look forward to working with the Board and the group executive to help deliver Kingfisher's 'Creating the Leader' plan."

Source : The Retail Bulletin
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