On this page you can find a brief biography for each member of The Marston's PLC Board of Directors, along with details of their roles and responsibilities.
William is a Chartered Accountant with many years’ experience in banking and financial services and was appointed as Chairman of the Board with effect from 1 October 2018. He is Chief Executive of Lazard in the UK, and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of financial markets, corporate finance and strategy to his leadership of the Board. William is also currently Chairman of the UK Dementia Research Institute and a Committee Member of Cheltenham Racecourse. Previously, he was Chairman of Crest Nicholson PLC, Chairman of Quintain Estates and Development plc; and, a Non-executive Director of Rentokil Initial plc.
Appointed to the Board as Finance Director in 1996, becoming Chief Executive in 2001. Ralph is currently the Senior Independent Director at Bovis Homes Group PLC and a Director of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA). He previously worked as Financial Controller at Geest plc and Treasury Manager at Bass plc.
Joined the Company in 2002 as Divisional Finance Director for Marston's Beer Company and in 2006 he became Operations Director for Marston's Pub Company. Andrew was appointed to the Board as Finance Director in March 2009. He is currently a Non-executive Director at Portmeirion Group PLC. Andrew has previously worked in various financial and commercial roles with Guinness Brewing Worldwide, Bass Brewers Limited and Dolland & Aitchison.
Carolyn Bradley is a Non-executive Director of B&M European Value Retail S.A., SSP Group plc, The Mentoring Foundation and Majid Al Futtain Retail LLC. Carolyn has a strong consumer focused background having spent over 25 years at Tesco, prior to this, holding a number of roles including Chief Operations Officer for Tesco.com, Commercial Director for Tesco Stores and Tesco UK Marketing Director before being appointed Group Brand Director in 2012. She is a Trustee of Cancer Research UK, a Member of the Advisory Board of Cambridge Judge Business School and a past trustee of the DrinkAware Trust. Carolyn was a Non-executive Director of Legal and General Group plc until 31 December 2018.
Matthew, is a qualified Chartered Accountant (FCA) and was Chief Executive Officer of Intu Properties plc. He was previously Chief Financial officer of Gala Coral Group Ltd from 2004 to 2008. Matthew has held a number of senior roles with The Burton Group from 1989 to 1998, spanning group finance, corporate development and IT, during which time he lead the demerger of Debenhams in 1998. He was Finance Director of Debenhams from 1996 to 2003.
Bridget is Managing Director (North) at J Sainsbury PLC and has had a distinguished career working across multiple leading retail brands. Previously at Marks & Spencer, she went on to hold senior positions within retail corporates such as at Body Shop International Ltd, Clarks Shoes Ltd, Uniqlo Europe Ltd, Oasis Stores PLC, Arcadia Group Ltd and Telefonica UK Ltd/O2. Most recently, she was Director of Stores, Online and Omnichannel at O2 where she led the re-engineering of the store experience, development of an industry-leading digital experience and the omnichannel transformation. In addition, Bridget has been a member of the Board of Governors at Manchester University since 2018.
Octavia has extensive experience in both executive and non-executive roles in retail and multisite companies having held various senior operational and strategic roles across all areas of retail at companies including Asda Stores Limited, Laura Ashley Holdings PLC and Woolworths plc. Octavia became Chief Executive Officer, and then Chair, at LighterLife UK Limited. She was subsequently appointed Managing Director at Crew Clothing Co Ltd before being appointed Chief Executive at OKA Direct Limited. Octavia is currently Executive Chair of Spicers-Office Team Group Ltd; Senior Independent Director at Card Factory PLC and a Non-executive Director of Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC and Ascensos Ltd. She was formerly a Non-executive Director of John Menzies PLC.
Joined the Company in 1998 as Group Tax Manager. A qualified Chartered Accountant and Chartered Secretary, she was appointed Secretary in 2004.
There is a clear division of responsibility between the roles of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer that are set out in writing and agreed by the Board. The key responsibilities for each Board member are set out below:
William Rucker is responsible for:
Carolyn Bradley is responsible for:
The roles of Bridget Lea, Octavia Morley and Matthew Roberts are to:
Ralph Findlay is responsible for:
Andrew Andrea is responsible for:
Anne-Marie Brennan is responsible for:
