The Board of Directors

Presenting the current Board of Directors of DS Smith Plc with Miles Roberts as the Group Chief Executive and Geoff Drabble as the Chair.

Geoff Drabble - Chair

• Appointed Chair of the Board on 3 January 2021.
• Appointed to the Board on 1 September 2020 as a Non-Executive Director. He is Chair and a member of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee.

Skills and experience

Geoff is non-executive chair of Ferguson plc and non-executive director and chair (designate) of Travis Perkins plc. He retired from being the Senior Independent Director of Howden Joinery Group Plc in May 2023. Geoff served for 12 years as Chief Executive of Ashtead Group plc, the FTSE 100 industrial equipment rental company. He was previously an executive director of The Laird Group plc and held a number of senior management positions at Black & Decker. Geoff is a charted accountant.

Geoff’s wealth of industrial and international experience, including experience of sales and marketing, combined with his experience of chairing boards of listed companies and his awareness of both the non-executive and chief executive perspective, means that his skills and experience contribute to the Board’s practical understanding of good governance in action, balancing stakeholders’ interests across the range of issues considered by the Board, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters.

Miles Roberts - Group Chief Executive

• Appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and as Group Chief Executive on 4 May 2010.
• Member of the Nomination and General Purposes Committees.

Skills and experience

Miles is a non-executive director of Land Securities Group PLC. Following his early career in engineering, Miles became a chartered accountant. He was previously Chief Executive of McBride plc, having originally joined as its Group Finance Director.

As Group Chief Executive, Miles leads the executive management of the Group and is responsible for DS Smith’s overall ESG performance and its clear objectives at the centre of our business model, taking into account the Board’s risk appetite. He chairs the Group’s Health, Safety, Environment and Sustainability Committee that monitors the establishment of goals, management of risks and opportunities, reporting and related governance procedures in that area.

Miles’ strong leadership skills combined with his clear strategic mindset, rooted in the practicality of his engineering and accountancy training, means that his skills and experience, and ability to identify material risks and sustainable growth opportunities for the Group’s business, contribute to the Board’s clear strategic vision. He brings to the Board extensive financial and operational experience particularly within international manufacturing industries.

Richard Pike - Group Finance Director

• Appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and as Group Finance Director on 30 June 2023.
• Member of the General Purposes Committee.

Skills and experience

Before joining DS Smith, Richard was Chief Financial Officer of Biffa plc. Prior to that he spent time in the food manufacturing sector as Group Finance Director of AB Sugar and Managing Director of British Sugar (both parts of ABF plc), followed by being Chief Financial Officer of Boparan Holdings Limited. Earlier in his career Richard trained and qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC, and thereafter went on to hold a variety of roles at Scapa Group plc, Pilkington plc and Manchester Airports Group.

Richard’s financial and general management experience in leadership roles within manufacturing companies, together with his knowledge and understanding of the recycling and sustainability sectors and of the growing importance of ESG matters, play a central role with the Board’s discussions on the next chapter of growth for DS Smith.

Tessa Bamford   - Non-Executive Director

• Appointed to the Board on 1 January 2024 as a Non-Executive Director.
• Member of the Nomination, Remuneration, and Audit Committees.

Skills and experience

Tessa joined the Board following her retirement from Spencer Stuart, a global leadership search and advisory firm, where she led the UK Board and CEO practice, working with clients in the UK and internationally. Tessa previously held non-executive director roles at Ferguson plc for ten years and at Barratt Developments plc for nine years. Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Tessa was a founding director of Cantos Communications, an online corporate communications company where she also managed many of its largest client accounts. Her earlier career was as an investment banker for 18 years, which started at BZW, then Schroders, latterly as a managing director in which she worked in both the UK and US advising companies on equity capital markets and M&A.

Tessa’s extensive experience in the fields of leadership advice and recruitment, communications and investment banking, contributes further to the Board’s discussions.

Celia Baxter - Non-Executive Director

• Appointed to the Board on 9 October 2019 as a Non-Executive Director.
• Chair and member of the Remuneration Committee. Member of the Nomination and Audit Committees.

Skills and experience

Celia is the Senior Independent Director and remuneration committee chair of Dowlais Group plc and non-executive director of discoverIE Group plc. Her early executive career was with Ford Motor Company and KPMG. She has held HR positions with Hays plc, Enterprise Oil Plc, Tate & Lyle Plc and was Director of Group HR at Bunzl plc where she was responsible for all ESG activities for 13 years. As a non-executive director, she was on the board of NV Bekaert SA until May 2020 and on the board of RHI Magnesita N.V. until June 2021 and retired as Senior Independent Director and the remuneration committee chair at Senior plc in April 2023.

Celia’s background of working in a range of sectors, including manufacturing, means that, as well as her experience as a remuneration committee chair and her understanding of employee dynamics and ESG issues, she brings extensive and practical business knowledge to the Board.

Alan Johnson CMG - Non-Executive Director

• Appointed to the Board on 1 June 2022 as a Non-Executive Director.
• Member of the Nomination, Remuneration, and Audit Committees.

Skills and experience

Alan is a non-executive director of Imperial Brands plc and William Grant & Sons Holdings Limited, where he also chairs the audit committee and is the Chair of the Stakeholder Advisory Council of the Standard Settings Board, which will provide strategic advice to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. He has been President and Chair of the Board of the International Federation of Accountants and chaired the audit committee of the International Valuation Standards Council. Alan previously held a number of senior finance positions at Unilever during a 30-year career, including Chief Audit Executive and Chief Financial Officer of the Global Foods Division. He also served as Chief Financial Officer and later as a non-executive director at food retailer Jerónimo Martins, SGPS, SA until April 2016.

Alan’s extensive financial and international experience working within the consumer goods and retail sectors and his experience of chairing international accountancy bodies brings a range of important different perspectives to contribute to the Board’s discussions.

Alina Kessel - Non-Executive Director

• Appointed to the Board on 1 May 2020 as a Non-Executive Director.

• Member of the Nomination, Remuneration, and Audit Committees.

Skills and experience

Alina is a Global Client Leader at WPP, a leading international marketing communications company and her current role with WPP includes working with global clients on their sustainability agenda.  She has over 25 years of experience building global brands for large multinational clients, helping them grow their business through communications, experience, commerce, and technology. Originally from Ukraine and a US national, Alina has lived and worked in the UK, US, Australia and Germany.

Alina’s experience of living, as well as working, in a number of different countries, including the US, combined with her expertise in marketing and communications means that her skills and experience contributes an additional perspective to the Board’s discussions, particularly when considering the interests of employees (based in over 30 countries) and our global customers and discussing how to communicate key non-financial aspects of our business.

Eric Olsen – Non-Executive Director

• Appointed to the Board on 15 May 2023 as a Non-Executive Director.
• Member of the Nomination, Remuneration, and Audit Committees.

Skills and experience

Eric is a board member of Fortera Inc., a member of the Technical and Strategic Advisory Committee of Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe, and a corporate advisor for Temasek Holdings Inc. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holding a Master of Business Administration from HEC international business school in Paris, Eric was the CEO of Aliaxis SA from 2020 to April 2024 and CEO of LafargeHolcim from 2015 to 2017. Prior to that he also held a number of other roles within the Lafarge Group, including as EVP Organisation and Human Resources and EVP in charge of Operations. Eric started his career in the field of M&A at Deloitte & Touche and Banque Paribas and was one of the managing partners of Trinity Associates for six years. Eric has dual American and French nationalities.

Eric’s extensive experience in the fields of finance, human resources, strategy, operations and global leadership deepens of the range of perspectives brought to the Board’s discussions.

David Robbie – Senior Independent Director

• Appointed to the Board on 11 April 2019 as a Non-Executive Director.
• Appointed Senior Independent Director on 28 February 2022.
• Chair and member of the Audit Committee. Member of the Nomination, and Remuneration Committees.

Skills and experience

David is a non-executive director and audit committee chair of easyJet plc. He was the Interim Chairman, Senior Independent Director, and chair of the audit committee at FirstGroup plc until June 2021. He was previously the Finance Director of Rexam PLC. Prior to his role at Rexam, David served in senior finance roles at BTR plc before becoming Group Finance Director at CMG plc in 2000 and then Chief Financial Officer at Royal P&O Nedloyd N.V. in 2004. He served as a non-executive director of the BBC between 2006 and 2010 and as chair of their audit committee. David qualified as a chartered accountant at KPMG.

David’s strong financial, risk management, and corporate finance experience combined with his international and strategic mindset and practical governance experience with over 25 years serving as a director on FTSE boards means that his skills and experience add depth to the Board’s discussions in these areas.

Iain Simm - Group General Counsel and Company Secretary

• Appointed as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary on 6 June 2016.

Skills and experience

He has previously held General Counsel and Company Secretary roles with Signature Aviation plc and P&O Ports Ltd. He undertook his legal training with Slaughter and May and worked for a number of years in their corporate and commercial department.

Iain’s experience as general counsel and company secretary in listed entities operating on a multi-jurisdictional basis means that the Board benefits from his advice on governance and compliance matters as well as advice on complex legal issues.