Jayne Burrell has been appointed as Iceland's company secretary effective from 1 April, taking over from Iceland veteran John Berry, who has been in the role for 22 years.
"I am really excited about the challenge" said Burrell, who is currently head of legal. "I love working for Iceland, it is a great, fast-moving and vibrant company so this is a great opportunity.
"John's shoes are going to be pretty big ones to fill. He knows the business inside out, but I have been here for eight years, so I am pretty confident."
Landsbanki is currently looking to sell its 67% share in the business and Burrell acknowledged that if the business is sold, a period of major change could be on the cards. "At the moment there is a lot of speculation and no-one knows what is going to happen," she said. "But obviously that could add an interesting strand if anything happens."
Burrell started at Iceland as a junior commercial lawyer in 2002. She was promoted to senior commercial lawyer before taking over as company solicitor in 2005 and has spent the past two years as head of legal. At 36, she will be the youngest company secretary & head of legal services in the UK's top ten food retailers.
Berry will now move to a newly created role of executive counsel, where he will work on projects for Iceland's finance director Tarsem Dhaliwal and be available to support Burrell.
"There is lots of work that John and I had started on already, so we will be continuing with that for the next couple of months" said Dhaliwal. "John also wanted more time off, and when the existing projects have reached completion then there will be something else to do.
"Jayne has been a fantastic legal head and I think she will do us proud," he added. "It is a huge opportunity for her, which I am sure she will relish."
Burrell is also currently company secretary of DBC Foodservice, which is owned by Iceland Foods directors Tarsem Dhaliwal, Andrew Pritchard and Malcolm Walker. However, Burrell will relinquish this role to focus on Iceland.
"I am really excited about the challenge" said Burrell, who is currently head of legal. "I love working for Iceland, it is a great, fast-moving and vibrant company so this is a great opportunity.
"John's shoes are going to be pretty big ones to fill. He knows the business inside out, but I have been here for eight years, so I am pretty confident."
Landsbanki is currently looking to sell its 67% share in the business and Burrell acknowledged that if the business is sold, a period of major change could be on the cards. "At the moment there is a lot of speculation and no-one knows what is going to happen," she said. "But obviously that could add an interesting strand if anything happens."
Burrell started at Iceland as a junior commercial lawyer in 2002. She was promoted to senior commercial lawyer before taking over as company solicitor in 2005 and has spent the past two years as head of legal. At 36, she will be the youngest company secretary & head of legal services in the UK's top ten food retailers.
Berry will now move to a newly created role of executive counsel, where he will work on projects for Iceland's finance director Tarsem Dhaliwal and be available to support Burrell.
"There is lots of work that John and I had started on already, so we will be continuing with that for the next couple of months" said Dhaliwal. "John also wanted more time off, and when the existing projects have reached completion then there will be something else to do.
"Jayne has been a fantastic legal head and I think she will do us proud," he added. "It is a huge opportunity for her, which I am sure she will relish."
Burrell is also currently company secretary of DBC Foodservice, which is owned by Iceland Foods directors Tarsem Dhaliwal, Andrew Pritchard and Malcolm Walker. However, Burrell will relinquish this role to focus on Iceland.
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