Our board

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Steve Johnson

Non-Executive Chair

Steve Johnson joined DFS in December 2018 and was appointed Non-Executive Chair on 4 November 2022.

Steve has over 30 year's experience in retail, supply chain, manufacturing and M&A, having held senior executive roles with several retailers including at Asda & Matalan. Prior to this Steve spent five years with Bain & Co having graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Masters Degree in Manufacturing Engineering.

Steve has also held non-executive directorships of a number of UK companies and was on the Board of Big Yellow Group PLC.

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Tim Stacey

Group Chief Executive Officer

Tim Stacey, CEO of the DFS Group, joined DFS in July 2011, prior to becoming the Group CEO he held a number of key leadership roles across the business.

Tim has a wealth of leadership and retail experience, including 12 years at Alliance Boots in roles such as Multi-Channel Director for Boots.com and Director for Online and Business Development.

Tim has a BA(Hons) in Accounting and Finance from Nottingham Trent University and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

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John Fallon

Chief Financial Officer

John Fallon, CFO of the DFS Group, joined DFS in November 2022.

John has developed strong retail and finance leadership experience prior to DFS, including over 20 years at Asda as group Chief Financial Officer, Commercial Finance Director, Group Financial Controller and Internal Audit Director.

John has a BA (Hons) in Accounting & Finance from Manchester Metropolitan University and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Alison Hutchinson V2

Alison Hutchinson

Senior Independent Non-Executive Director & Chair of the Responsibility and Sustainability Committee

Alison Hutchinson joined DFS as an Independent Non-Executive Director in May 2018, and currently serves as the Senior Independent Non-Executive Director and chair of the Responsible and Sustainable Business Committee.

Alison has a strong background in both ITretail financial services and the retail sector.  She started her career at IBM where she became Global Director of Online Financial Services. In 2000, Alison joined Barclays Bank where she held senior management positions including Marketing Director of Barclaycard before moving to specialist mortgage provider Kensington Group in 2004, where she was Managing Director and then Group CEO, leading the successful sale of the business to Investec in 2008. Over the last 12 years Alison has worked in the retail and hospitality sector to launch and grow a movement which enables digital charity donations.  In 2016, she was awarded a CBE for services to the economy and charities.

Alison is currently Chief Executive of Fintech charity The Pennies Foundation (which she founded in 2009) as well as being the Senior Independent Director at Yorkshire Building Society and Foresight Group Holdings Ltd.  Alison has a BSc in Technology & Business Studies from Strathclyde University.

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Jo Boydell

Independent Non Executive Director & Chair of the Audit Committee

Jo Boydell joined DFS in December 2018 as an Independent Non-Executive Director and was appointed Chair of the Audit Committee in April 2019.

Jo has been the Chief Executive Officer of Travelodge Limited since May 2022 having joined the business as the Chief Financial Officer in 2013. Prior to that, Jo held senior finance roles across a number of consumer-facing companies including Mothercare, Jessops, Ladbrokes, Hilton Group and EMI Group. She is a Chartered accountant.

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Loraine Martins OBE

Independent Non-Executive Director

Loraine joined DFS in June 2021 as an Independent Non-Executive Director. She is currently the Global Lead for diversity and inclusion at Nichols Group, a strategic transformation consultancy.

Formerly the Director for Diversity and Inclusion at Network Rail, the body responsible for the UK's Rail infrastructure, in 2021 Loraine was awarded an OBE for her work on diversity and inclusion. Prior to that, Loraine was responsible for Jobs & Skills and Equality & Inclusion in the construction of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the London 2012 Olympic Games, for which she was awarded an MBE.

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Liz McDonald

General Counsel & Company Secretary

Liz joined DFS in 2018 as the General Counsel & Company Secretary. She is responsible for the Corporate affairs of the Group and leads a team of  specialists focussed on Legal, Regulatory Compliance,  Risk and Health & Safety

Liz has over 25 years experience as an in-house lawyer and Company Secretary, having started her legal career with the Halifax she has held leadership roles at My Dentist, the Peel Airports Group, KCOM Group PLC and Yorkshire Electricity. Liz has a LLB ( Hons ) in Law from Manchester Metropolitan University, and was admitted by the Law Society as a Solicitor in 1996.

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Gill Barr

Independent Non Executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee

Gill Barr joined DFS as an Independent Non Executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee on 1st March 2023.

Gill has extensive executive experience with retailers such as Kingfisher, John Lewis and the Coop. Her background is in building customer focused growth strategies for both stores and online. She has held Non Executive Director positions since 2004 across a variety of sectors. She is currently on the Boards of PayPoint plc, Wincanton plc and chairs the Remuneration Committees of Wincanton.