Big two appoint female directors to board

​TWO of Yorkshire’s biggest PLCs have appointed female directors at a time when the county has been criticised for its lack of women in the board room.

FTSE 100 York-based housebuilder Persimmon has appointed ​easyJet’s Rachel Kentleton as a non-executive director and she will also become a member of the company’s audit and risk committees.

​Leeds-based credit lender International Personal Finance​ has also brought in a female non-executive director with the appointment of Jayne Almond, who has over 20 years’ experience in insurance and financial services.

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​The appointments will help deflect criticism that Yorkshire lags behind the rest of the country when it comes to female representation.

​The latest Women on Boards data showed that Persimmon lay in the bottom 10 blue chip companies in terms of female representation, with only 11.1 per cent of its board female. FTSE 250 IPF also stood at just 11.1 per cent female. This compares with a national average of 23.5 per cent.

Ms Kentleton is group director, strategy & implementation at ​​easyJet with responsibility for strategy development, programme and change management and investor relations.

​Ms Almond set up equity release firm Stonehaven in 2006 and was executive chairman until 2014, when the firm was acquired by MGM Advantage group.

She was previously managing director of Barclays Home Finance business, group marketing director at Lloyds TSB, and managing director of Lloyds TSB’s European Internet banking business.

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