J D Wetherspoon plc has announced the appointment of John Herring as a non-executive director of the company with immediate effect. He will become chair of the audit committee.

Herring has been non-executive chair of Ceiba Investments Limited since 2018. Prior to that, he was a non-executive director of the company (which listed in 2018) from 2009. He has acted as a non-executive director on the boards of several public and private companies, including JD Wetherspoon plc from 1997 to 2011, the restaurant company Hawksmoor Limited, and Eat Limited, the sandwich shop chain.

In his executive career, Herring, a qualified Chartered Accountant, joined the corporate finance department of Kleinwort Benson in 1986, where he was involved in the IPOs on the London Stock Exchange for several companies, including that of JD Wetherspoon plc. In 1996, he established his own private equity advisory business.