John Roberts, Consignia CEO, to Retire

John Roberts, Chief Executive of Consignia, announced today that he would be retiring from the company later this year. In a personal statement, Mr Roberts, who is 57, said he had first discussed his retirement with Board colleagues nearly 18 months ago. ‘In February 2001, as part of a normal Board Succession Planning meeting with the Chairman and non-executive members, I said that I would have completed six years as CEO in the autumn of 2001, and I felt both myself and the company needed a change,’ said Mr Roberts. ‘The complication was that the then Chairman’s contract ran out in December 2001 and up until that month, we were not clear whether he would be re-appointed or not. Obviously, both of us could not leave at the same time,’ said Mr Roberts. ‘I agreed that if there was to be a change of Chairman, I would stay on and see in the new Chairman, at which time I felt he should be free to choose his own Chief Executive. That is what happened and I have greatly enjoyed working with Allan over the last five months.’