The UK’s Royal Mail has instigated a shakeup of its senior management, with Simon Thompson, formerly non-executive director, becoming CEO of the UK business. As a result of this change Stuart Simpson, who has been acting as interim CEO since May 2020, will leave Royal Mail at the end of January following a short handover period.
Additionally, Martin Seidenberg, currently CEO of GLS (Royal Mail’s European logistics subsidiary), will join the Royal Mail board in April. Mick Jeavons, interim CFO for the Group since May 2020, will continue in his position on a permanent basis and will join the board as an executive director, while Keith Williams, who has been acting as interim executive chair of the group, will revert back to being non-executive chair.
Announcing the changes, Williams said, “Royal Mail in the UK is in a period of significant transition and needs to move quickly, put the customer at the heart of everything we do, and adapt our business to better serve changing customer needs. Simon has been a non-executive director of the Group since November 2017 and already has significant knowledge of the Group and its operations. He also has a wealth of experience both in digital transformation and customer experience and is ideally placed to lead the opportunity to grow and expand our UK parcels business and to meet our customers’ needs across both letters and parcels.
“Martin has made an impressive start as CEO of GLS,” he continued. “Bringing him onto the Group Board allows us to benefit from his detailed knowledge of the parcels sector and reflects the contribution of GLS to the Group. We have two excellent leaders in place for each of our businesses, focused on the opportunities that they each have to grow and succeed in the future.”
