Name: Peter Bamford
Was: Product group executive (dry grocery) and trading director (bakery) at Tesco
Now: Non-executive chairman at Supergroup

Career background: As well as Tesco, Bamford has worked for Fine Fare and Kingfisher, with a brief stint at Woolworths as merchandising director. He also spent five years as president of US Wall Music and 10 years at WHSmith, becoming director from November 1995 to April 1997. He left to join Vodafone UK as CEO, later becoming CEO Northern Europe, Middle East and Africa and chief marketing officer. However, he became a casualty of a well-publicised boardroom battle in 2006 after a new CEO was appointed.

What is he doing now? Bamford joined fashion retailer Supergroup, which owns the cult brand Superdry, as non-exec chairman in January 2010, with the aim of steering the brand and business’s international development. He has also been a non-exec director of Rentokil Initial since 2006, chairman of PRS for Music since 2007 and on the board of telecoms company Six Degrees Technology for the past two years.

At Tesco: Bamford started at Tesco as a product group executive for dry grocery, just at the start of the own-label revolution. He launched the tea and coffee range at a time when own-brands were moving from being a cheap imitation to a credible alternative before moving to the bakery division as trading director. With responsibility for overseeing in-store bakeries, he helped standardise product quality and consistency.

What’s next? Despite a difficult year for Superdry, which Bamford attributed to operational capacity failing to keep pace with the rapidly growing business, the brand is tipped for further growth and Bamford is determined to see it realise its potential. Outside the boardroom, he is a motorsport enthusiast, racing a Radical SR8 in Europe.