Ted Baker names Osborne permanent CEO

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Mar 30, 2020

Ted Baker has finally found its new CEO with Rachel Osborne taking on the role permanently after several months as caretaker chief executive. 

And they've certainly been a rollercoaster few months for the executive who only joined the company in November in the role of chief financial officer. She was catapulted into the vacant CEO’s chair just a month later and clearly is seen as having done a good job since then. 

Osborne has more than 20 years of relevant brand and retail sector experience and was previously at Debenhams where she had been CFO. She also held the same role at Domino's Pizza Group, was finance director of group enterprise at Vodafone and finance & strategy director at John Lewis. She had previously also worked at Sodexo, Kingfisher and PepsiCo.

In recent months she’s been leading a significant period of change and transformation, including developing key strategic priorities for the firm’s hoped-for turnaround and the announcement of the sale and leaseback of the company's headquarters at a significant premium to its book value. And, of course, she’s also been leading the firm during the unprecedented challenges presented by Covid-19.

Acting chair Sharon Bailey is continuing in her role for now and the firm is still seeking a permanent chair, although on Monday it said the search “is progressing well”.

Baylay said of Osborne: “Following a thorough and competitive search process, the board is delighted that Rachel is being appointed as chief executive. Rachel has already made a significant contribution to Ted Baker, working tirelessly in recent months to develop a transformation plan for the business. She has brought hugely relevant retail and customer experience and is ideally positioned to lead Ted Baker's turnaround in the future.”