Richard Broadbent to Join Tesco's Board July 2; Become New Chairman November 3

United Kingdom-based Tesco, which owns 175-store El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, announced today Richard Broadbent (at left) will become the global retailer's new board chairman when current chairman of the board, David Reid, retires in November 2011.

Broadbent, who is currently deputy chairman at Britain's Barclays Bank, will join the Tesco's board as a non-executive director on July 2 of this year and will become chairman on November 30, Tesco said today in announcing the change.

Tesco and Reid, who's been on the retailer's board since 1985, had previously announced the current chairman's retirement, saying he would be leaving his position this year.

Reid is also a non-executive director of the Reed Elsevier Group and board chairman of two other companies in the United Kingdom - Kwik-Fit Group and Whizz-Kidz.

Like Reid, Broadbent will be a non-executive (or independent/outside) director and then chairman of Tesco's board of directors, meaning he isn't employed by Tesco plc.

Broadbent, who like former Tesco CEO Terry Leahy who retired in March was given the honorary title "Sir" by the Queen of England, will step down as Barclay's deputy chairman and senior independent director upon assuming the board chairmanship at Tesco in July, according to Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director of corporate and legal affairs at Tesco. Rolfe is also a member of Tesco's board.

Tesco currently has a 16-member board of directors. The board is a mix of executive (Tesco senior executives) and non-executive (outside) directors.

Among the Tesco corporate executives on the board are CEO Philip Clarke and deputy CEO Tim Mason, who's also CEO of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, and lives and works in Southern California.

When Richard Broadbent assumes the board chairmanship of Tesco July 2, it will complete the global retailer’s changing of the guard at the top, which began in March when Philip Clarke, Tesco’s former head of Europe and Asia retail operations and chief of corporate information technology, took over as CEO from Terry Leahy.

Additionally, Tim Mason was named Tesco's deputy group CEO in March. He retains his title and position as CEO of Fresh & Easy but has added a few corporate responsibilities to his portfolio, including branding and Tesco's global climate change initiative.