The Co-operative Group has announced the appointment of Debbie White as chair designate. She will join the board as an independent NED in August.

White is the former group CEO of Interserve and was global CEO for healthcare and government at Sodexo. She has also worked for BT Group and PwC, and started her career at Arthur Andersen and AstraZeneca.

White has held a number of non-executive director roles, including as senior independent director at Spire Healthcare Group, Howden’s Joinery Group and PAVmed Inc.

“Debbie is the ideal person to take our Co-op forwards over the coming years,” said Allan Leighton, Co-op group chair. “She has extensive business experience across a range of sectors and I’m personally delighted that she will join us at this exciting time… Under Debbie’s leadership I have every confidence that our Co-op will continue to grow.”

Shirine Khoury-Haq, CEO, added: “It is testament to the strength and future potential of our Co-op that we can attract someone of Debbie’s calibre and I’m looking forward to working closely with her as we embark on another exciting chapter in our Co-op’s 180-year history.”

Remuneration for the chair’s role will be £250,000.