Rico Back to succeed Moya Greene as CEO of Royal Mail
Moya Greene is to retire in September after more than eight years as Chief Executive Officer of Royal Mail. Rico Back will assume the role of Group CEO and join the Board on 1 June, following the announcement of the 2017-18 Results.
Greene will step down from the Board on 19 July, the date of the Company’s AGM. She will remain at the company until 14 September, working with Back on the handover.
Meanwhile, Sue Whalley will become CEO of Post and Parcels, Royal Mail UK, which consists of all the revenue and operations in the UK, other than Parcelforce Worldwide and Royal Mail International. She will join the Board on 1 June.
Back and Whalley will stand for election at the company’s AGM on 19 July.
Back has been a senior Royal Mail Group executive and CEO of the group’s European subsidiary, General Logistics Systems (GLS), for 18 years. He was a founding member of German Parcel in 1989, which Royal Mail acquired in 1999.
Whalley was appointed Chief Operations Officer in 2014 and, subsequently, Managing Director of Royal Mail Letters and Network. She is a former partner at McKinsey & Company.
Royal Mail said that Greene will “pursue a range of other interests, including developing her portfolio career”. She is a non-executive at Easyjet and a Trustee of Tate, and will become a non-executive director of Rio Tinto in the second half of 2018.
Commenting on today’s announcement Royal Mail’s Chairman Peter Long said: “Royal Mail was highly fortunate to recruit Moya, given her direct experience, strategic vision, drive and proven track record across a range of industry sectors.
“When Moya joined in the summer of 2010, the Company was balance sheet insolvent. Since then, Royal Mail has been transformed, including our privatisation in 2013 and two significant, ground-breaking agreements with the CWU. Alongside the strong financial position Moya has secured for the Company, we have invested over £1.5 billion in our UK operation in recent years. We are one of the most favourably viewed brands in the UK.
“I would like to extend to Moya our sincere thanks for her tremendous contribution during a defining time for us.”
Long then focused on the new leadership team: “Under Rico’s leadership, GLS has become the leading delivery company of its kind in Europe, making a highly valuable contribution to the wider Royal Mail Group at the same time.
“The Board believes that Rico’s track record, his strong commercial acumen and his deep understanding of the delivery industry mean he is ideally placed to lead Royal Mail.
“It is also very pleasing to note that our succession planning has enabled us to make two major internal promotions today. Alongside Rico’s appointment as Group CEO, I am delighted to welcome Sue to our Board. Sue is leading the very important transformation of our UK business. She took the principal role in negotiating the operational aspects of our recent agreement with the CWU and is leading on the implementation of all aspects of it.
“For some years, Sue led our Regulation and Government Affairs functions at Royal Mail, and was heavily involved in the privatisation process. Her very significant experience in strategy development, business transformation and regulation will be of great value to us.”
