PLC Board

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  Rodney Baker-Bates
  Group Non-Executive Chairman

  Rodney Baker-Bates is a seasoned director of large UK PLCs with a long career in the City and international finance sector. He has held a series of senior positions across the sector, including managing director of UK banking at the Midland Bank and chief executive at Prudential Financial Services, as well as serving on the management committee of the BBC. He was formerly a Non-Executive Director of C. Hoare & Co and Deputy Chairman of Co-Operative Financial Services Ltd.

  In addition to his role as Group Non-Executive Chairman of Stobart Group, his current roles include Chairman of Assura Group and EG Consulting Ltd. He also serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of several other companies including Bedlam Asset Management plc and Atlas Farm Group.

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  Andrew Tinkler
  Chief Executive Officer

  A life-long entrepreneur, Andrew Tinkler’s first involvement with the Eddie Stobart business was as a friend of the Stobart sons and an occasional cleaner of trucks for the company as a teenager. He later served his apprenticeship as a cabinet maker and went self employed in the mid-1980s, forming WA Tinkler Building Contractors, in Carlisle.

  Following a series of successful contracts the company became WA Developments with a start-up turnover of some £600,000 a year. WA Developments became a thriving and hugely successful business, completing large civil engineering and railway infrastructure contracts across the UK and in Europe. By the late 1990s the company’s turnover had grown to more than £20 million a year and Andrew’s old friend William Stobart joined the business as a shareholding director in 2001.

  Soon, Andrew took a renewed interest in the Eddie Stobart business, and with William Stobart, acquired the company in 2004, immediately becoming CEO. The Stobart Group now counts airports, ports, rail, biomass and estates businesses as part of the Group. Andrew is credited with turning the company around during the years following the 2004 acquisition, and is central to the strategic development and vision that forms the backbone of the Group’s multimodal offering and FTSE250 listing today.

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  Ben Whawell
  Chief Financial Officer

  Ben Whawell joined the Board as Chief Financial Officer in March 2008. Ben started his career in Grant Thornton where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and progressed to Senior Corporate Finance Manager. He joined Stobart in 2004 after advising on the acquisition of the Group by WA Developments International.

  Since joining Stobart, Ben has managed the International Division, led a number of other areas in the Group, implemented financial and IT changes across the business and was involved in the merger with Westbury in 2007. Since the formation of the Company, he has overseen the acquisitions of James Irlam, Innovate Chilled, WA Developments, LSA, CLDA and more recently the Biomass business. Ben received the North West Financial Director of the Year Award in 2009.

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  Jesper Kjaedegaard
  Non-Executive Director

  Former CEO at Maersk UK, Jesper has more than 30 years’ experience in transport and logistics. He has held several senior positions with AP Moller-Maersk Group and was appointed CEO Maersk Company UK Ltd in 2004.

  In 2008 he co-founded Mercator International, an independent ports and infrastructure consultancy. Jesper also serves as a non-executive director of Terminal de Conteineres de Paranagua S/A (TCP - Brazil) and The Containership Company (Norway). He is also former President of the British Chamber of Shipping and Chairman of Maritime UK.

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  Michael Kayser
  Non-Executive Director

  Michael is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, and has extensive experience in major corporate transactions, both in quoted and private markets internationally.

  He has held a variety of Board level finance appointments at Laporte PLC, Doncasters Ltd, Amey PLC, Lloyd’s Register and Guiness Brewing Worldwide. In addition to his role as a non-executive director on the Board of Stobart Group, Michael also serves on the Board of Biome Technologies and holds a number of positions with private and charitable organisations.

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  David M M Beever
  Non-Executive Director

  David Milton Maxwell Beever is a former Vice Chairman of S G Warburg and Co. where he was Head of Financing and handled major corporate finance transactions for UK and International companies. He then joined KPMG where he was a member of the UK Board and Chairman, UK and International. Corporate Finance.

  He is currently the Senior Independent Director of Premier Foods plc. He has previously been Chairman of Volex Group plc and London and Continental Railways Ltd. He was also a Non-Executive Director of Paragon Group of Companies, JJB Sports, Northern Electric, TLS Group and Servomex plc. He is a member of the Board of Trustees, University of London, and a Vice Chairman of Royal Holloway College, London University.

  Appointed to the Stobart Group Board on May 23rd 2011.

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  Alan H M Kelsey
  Non-Executive Director & Senior Independent Director

  Alan Howard Mitchell Kelsey, aged 62, has forty years’ experience in the City and industry, with a strong focus on the Transport sector. His banking roles included Deputy Head of Corporate Finance at Smith New Court (which became Merrill Lynch) and Co-Head of Corporate Broking and Global Head of the Transportation Industry Group at WestLB Panmure. He spent fifteen years at RBC Dominion Securities International and Kitcat and Aitken and in that time was the top ranked investment analyst for the Transport sector.

  He was Group Corporate Development Director at National Express Group PLC, where he was one of the executive directors and was a non-executive director at PD Ports PLC where he was the senior independent director. He is currently Chairman of Nord Anglia Education Ltd (having previously been Chairman of Nord Anglia plc) and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

  Appointed to the Stobart Group Board on May 23rd 2011.

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  Paul Orchard-Lisle, CBE
  Non-Executive Director

  Paul David Orchard-Lisle, aged 72, has nearly fifty years’ experience in the property sector. He joined Healey & Baker in 1961 where he was Head of Investment between 1986-1998 and Senior Partner between 1987-1999. He oversaw the Company’s merger with Cushman & Wakefield in 1998, forming a global company, covering the entire commercial property spectrum with a turnover in excess of $700m.

  Paul was previously President of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Chairman of Slough Estates (now Segro plc) and executive chairman of the Falcon Property Trust. He is Chairman of Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust and a Director of Powerleague Limited, as well as Chairman of Apache Capital LLP and a Senior Advisor to Patron Capital.

  Appointed to the Stobart Group Board on May 23rd 2011.