North East-based public transport giant FirstGroup has named Intertek boss Wolfhart Hauser as its new £280,000-a-year chairman.
He will succeed current incumbent John McFarlane, whose move to become chairman of banking group Barclays was confirmed in December, following the firm’s annual meeting in July.
Mr Hauser will join First’s board on May 18 as a non-executive director and chairman designate and will work alongside Mr McFarlane for an interim handover period.
For the past 10 years Mr Hauser has headed up fellow FTSE 100 group Intertek as chief executive officer.
Under his leadership, Intertek developed from a medium-sized group of separate testing businesses into an integrated global organisation with more than 38,000 employees and operations in more than 100 countries.
Mr Hauser, who also holds board positions with Primark owner Associated British Foods and Reed Elsevier, will step down from Intertek on May 15.
FirstGroup senior independent director Drummond Hall said Mr Hauser’s appointment came after a “rigorous” recruitment process.
“He has a strong track record of driving profitable growth and value creation in a large international organisation, as well as significant board experience in major UK listed companies,” Mr Hall said.
“We are very pleased to be able to attract an individual of Wolfhart’s calibre and experience to help guide the group’s continued development.”
Mr Hall also moved to place on record the group’s gratitude for the job done by Mr McFarlane.
The new chairman designate said he was pleased to be joining a company that is one of the leading public transport providers in the UK and North America.
In the last financial year the group, which has a workforce of more than 110,000, transported more than 2.5 billion passengers and generated revenues of more than £6.7bn.
He said: “I look forward to working with the executive team and the board to improve the group’s returns, resilience and growth prospects to levels befitting its leading market positions in the UK and North America.”
Shares in FirstGroup closed up 1.98% at 100.4p following Wednesday’s session.