Clare Swindell joins John Lewis board as non-executive director

The John Lewis Partnership has appointed Clare Swindell as a non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee. She succeeds Nicky Dulieu, who stepped down in December 2023.

Swindell, the company said in a statement, is a highly experienced finance professional and has spent much of her career in retail. She was co-chief executive officer for Camelot until January 2024, having joined as chief financial officer in 2017 before being appointed to the board in 2019.

Commenting on Swindell’s appointment to the board, Sharon White, chairman of the John Lewis Partnership said: “On behalf of the board, I’m delighted to welcome Clare Swindell. I know her broad range of skills and experience in leading retail and consumer businesses will be a real asset to the Partnership.”

Prior to Camelot, Swindell was group CFO at Dunnhumby, having previously spent over 17 years at Tesco in a wide range of operational and financial roles, including CFO for Tesco.com and group audit director. She is also a non-executive director and audit committee chair at Fever-Tree, the listed drinks brand.

The company also announced that Jane Hanson CBE joined the board as an independent external member of the audit and risk committee. Hanson, the company further said, brings over 30 years’ experience in executive and non-executive director roles in consumer focused, FTSE, regulated and not-for-profit boards in both the private and public sectors.

“We also welcome Jane Hanson whose experience across accounting, risk and corporate governance roles in financial services and consumer-focussed sectors will bring valuable insight to the audit and risk committee,” added White.

Hanson succeeds Sharon Fennessy who, in line with corporate governance good practice, will step down in April after over eight years on the committee.