Debenhams appoints new non-executive director

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Sep 6, 2016

Lisa Myers has been appointed to the board of Debenhams as new non-executive director.

Myers has a strong financial background. She spent 19 years at global investment firm Franklin Templeton Investments, where she was an Executive Vice-president and lead portfolio manager of some of Templeton's flagship global funds, managing or co-managing more than $10 billion of assets.

As a coordinator of Templeton's global consumer research, Myers had direct research responsibility for the retail, textile and apparel and luxury goods sectors. Most recently, she was Co-Head of Global Partnership Investing at BTG Pactual, a global asset management strategy.

Debenhams is also preparing to welcome its new CEO, Sergio Bucher. He will join from Amazon in October 2016.

The changes come at a difficult time for the retailer, which was forced to review its guidance for its full year gross margin after reporting a 0.2% fall in like-for-like sales for the third quarter. Despite the decline, the company expects its full year pre-tax profits to be within the range of market forecasts.