Shepherd Neame, owner and operator of 291 English pubs, has announced the appointment of two non-executive directors to the board: Marion Sears and Margaret (‘Meg’) Lustman.

At the same time, Sears will become senior independent director and chair of the remuneration committee.

Having commenced her career in investment banking, Sears has more than two decades of experience on both public and private boards as a non-executive director, senior independent director, and committee chair. Most recently, she was remuneration committee chair at Keywords Studios plc and remuneration and ESG committee chair at WH Smith plc.

She is currently a non-executive director and the designated people NED at Dunelm Group plc, the FTSE 250 homewares retailer, and the senior independent director at Schroder Asian Total Return Investment Company plc.

Meg Lustman has held senior leadership roles in a range of leading multisite, omnichannel, international retail businesses. She was chief executive of clothing retailer Hobbs (2014-2019) and, from 2009 to 2013, she was managing director of Warehouse. She has held other senior management roles at John Lewis and Aurora Fashions.

Lustman is currently non-executive director and remuneration committee chair of N Brown Group plc, a digital retailer of clothing and footwear, and of kitchenware retailer ProCook Group PLC. She is chair of St Luke’s Hospice, Harrow and Brent and vice chair of court and remuneration committee chair at Glasgow Caledonian University. She was previously a non-executive director at Ted Baker (2021-2022) and chair of The Fashion & Textiles Children’s Trust (2014-2017).

Richard Oldfield, chair of Shepherd Neame, commented: “I am delighted that both Marion and Meg will be joining the board of Shepherd Neame. They each bring significant, and highly relevant experience, of the retail and wider consumer sectors which will be of great benefit to the company. I look forward to working with them.”