Johnson Matthey said drinks company executive Anna Manz would join the company's board on 17 October, succeeding Den Jones as group finance director.
This follows the announcement on 2 March that Jones would step down as group finance director, resigning from the board at the annual general meeting on 20 July and leaving on 31 July. The board would like to thank Den for his contributions during his time with the group.
Manz joins from drinks conglomerate Diageo where she is currently group strategy director and a member of the executive committee.
During her 17 years at Diageo, Manz has held a series of senior financial roles, at both group and regional level, including finance director spirits North America, group treasurer and subsequently finance director Asia Pacific. As well as strong credentials in financial leadership, she brings international experience and deep commercial awareness to Johnson Matthey.
In her current role as group strategy director, she heads Diageo's strategy and business development activities and also the mainstream spirits business. Prior to joining Diageo, Manz worked in the Quest International business of Unilever / ICI. She is a chemistry graduate and a qualified management accountant. She is a non-executive director of ITV.
Robert MacLeod, chief executive of Johnson Matthey said: "I am delighted that Anna will be joining Johnson Matthey in October and I am looking forward to working with her. Anna's strong financial, strategic and commercial experience in a large global company, together with her background in chemistry, will enable her to make an immediate contribution to the development of Johnson Matthey as we pursue our strategy of delivering long term profitable growth."
