Tesco hires BP vice president Byron Grote
BP director and vice president Byron Grote is joining Tesco's board as the troubled supermarket looks to bolster its financial experience.
Grote, who has been at BP since it acquired Standard Oil of Ohio in 1987, joins the Tesco board on May 1 as a non-executive director.
The grocer said he brought “extensive executive and non-executive financial and strategic experience”, which will be put to good use as Tesco's new chief executive Dave Lewis attempts to recover from the scandal around its profit overstatement last year, and roll out his strategy to halt declining market share.
Grote's CV certainly sounds impressive – although lacking any retail experience, which is another major issue for Tesco.
He joined Standard Oil in 1979 and has risen through the ranks to become executive vice president of corporate business activities of BP, as well as a member of the board.
He was also chief financial officer for the group for nine years.
Grote replaces Gareth Bullock, who is retiring from the main Tesco board to devote more time to his directorship of Tesco Bank. He leaves tomorrow.
This is the second recent change to Tesco's board in a week. Last week, Severn Trent chief executive Liv Garfield stepped down to focus on her full-time role, while Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker, who has been a director for six years, retired.
That leaves Tesco with just one woman on a board of 12.
Tesco's share price was down 0.9 per cent at pixel time.