The names and details of the current directors are set out below. All served throughout the financial year ended March 31, 2008.
Board members as at May 15, 2008.
Chairman
Martin Broughton
Board Member since May 2000. Deputy Chairman from November 2003 becoming non-executive Chairman in July 2004. At the time of his appointment, Martin met the independence criteria set out in paragraph A.3.1 of the Combined Code on Corporate Governance (June 2006). Chairman of the Nominations Committee. Martin is President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Chief Executive
Willie Walsh
Executive Board Member since May 2005, becoming Chief Executive in October 2005. Formerly Chief Executive of Aer Lingus, he is an honorary board member of Flight Safety International.
Chief Financial Officer
Keith Williams
Executive Board Member since January 2006. Having joined the airline in 1998 as Head of Taxation and additionally appointed Group Treasurer in 2000, Keith was appointed Chief Financial Officer in January 2006. He is a chartered accountant.
Non-executive directors
Maarten van den Bergh
Independent non-executive director since 2002, senior independent non-executive director since July 2004. Nominations, Remuneration and Safety Review Committees. Maarten is Chairman of Akzo Nobel NV, Deputy Chairman of BT Group and non-executive director of Royal Dutch Shell plc.
Baroness Kingsmill
Independent non-executive director since November 2004. Audit, Nominations and Safety Review Committees. Until December 2003, she chaired the Department of Trade and Industry’s Accounting for People task force and was Deputy Chairman of the Competition Commission. She is a senior adviser to The Royal Bank of Scotland and a member of the Microsoft European Policy Council.
Jim Lawrence
Independent non-executive director since November 2006. Remuneration Committee. Jim is Chief Financial Officer of Unilever and serves on the Board of Avnet, Inc..
Chumpol NaLamlieng
Independent non-executive director since November 2005. Audit Committee. He is a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Management Advisory Committee of the Siam Cement Public Company Limited, non-executive Chairman of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and non-executive director of The Siam Commercial Bank Public Co. Ltd.
Dr Martin Read
Independent non-executive director since May 2000. Chairman of the Remuneration Committee. Nominations Committee. Martin was Group Chief Executive of LogicaCMG plc from 1993 to 2007. Senior adviser to Candover Partners Limited and served as non-executive director at Asda Group plc (1996 to 1999) and The Boots Company PLC (1999 to 2006).
Alison Reed
Independent non-executive director since December 2003. Chairman of the Audit Committee. Remuneration Committee. Alison was previously Group Finance Director of Marks & Spencer plc and Standard Life plc. She is a chartered accountant.
Ken Smart
Independent non-executive director since July 2005. Chairman of the Safety Review Committee. Audit Committee. Ken is Chairman of the UK Aviation and Maritime Industries Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme (CHIRP), a member of the Flight Safety Foundation Board of Governors and a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University.
Baroness Symons
Independent non-executive director since July 2005. Audit and Safety Review Committees. The Right Honourable the Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean is a senior member of the House of Lords. Created a life peer in 1996, she served as a Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Trade and Industry and was Minister of State for the Middle East, and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords until she resigned from the government in May 2005.
Company Secretary
Alan Buchanan
Joined the airline in 1990 as Principal Legal Adviser Finance, becoming Company Secretary in April 2000. Alan is also Head of Risk Management.
All directors are subject to retirement every three years and are eligible for re-election by the shareholders. In accordance with the Company’s Articles of Association, Willie Walsh, Maarten van den Bergh, Baroness Kingsmill, Ken Smart and Baroness Symons will retire and seek re-election by shareholders at the annual general meeting to be held on July 15, 2008. Biographical notes about the directors seeking re-election are set out in the explanatory notes of the Notice of annual general meeting.
Details of the directors’ remuneration and share interests are set out in the report of the Remuneration Committee.