Name: John Allan
Was: Director of Fine Fare
Now: Chairman of Dixons Retail

Career background: After studying mathematical sciences at Edinburgh University, Allan started his career in marketing at Lever Brothers and then moved into food retail at Fine Fare where he was head of marketing, buying and store operations from 1977 to 1985. The business eventually became part of Somerfield. Allan was made CEO of freight company Ocean Group in the 1990s, turning the business into a global operator that merged with rival NFC to become Exel and was eventually acquired by Deutsche Post for £3.6bn in 2005.

What is he doing now? He left his job as CFO of Deutsche Post in 2009 and moved back to the UK from Germany to become chairman of DSG, now Dixons Retail. Having worked in retail for 10 years he said it would be fun to return. But he faced an uphill task. The owner of Currys and PC World was struggling after a disastrous Christmas. But Allan was impressed by changes chief executive John Browett was making to the business, so took up the challenge.

Did it go well? Four years on and Dixons Retail is in a much better place. The shares plummeted from 70p to less than 10p just before Allan joined at the tail end of 2009. They have since recovered. The demise of Comet reduced competition for the group, taking the shares to a 22-month high at 23.1p in November. Dixons also had a good start to 2013, reporting a 7% increase in sales in the 12 weeks to 5 January.

What next? The Dixons business is back on a strong footing in the UK but its French online retailer Pixmania is struggling and sales in Southern Europe are also down. Allan may want to help put the retailer’s overseas operations back on track before taking on a new challenge.