Athleisure retailer JD Sports Fashion PLC on Friday named Andy Higginson as its new chair, effective from Monday.

Higginson was formerly chair of supermarket chain Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, from 2015 until its private equity takeover in November. He is also currently a senior independent director at Flutter Entertainment PLC.

In May, Peter Cowgill left as executive chair with immediate effect. JD Sports in July 2021 had bowed to shareholder pressure over its corporate governance, agreeing to split its controversial joint role of chair and chief executive officer.

Cowgill had served as both executive chair and CEO of JD Sports, since taking up the latter position in 2014.

Whilst the company searched for Cowgill’s permanent successors, non-executive directors Helen Ashton and Kath Smith assumed the roles of interim non-executive chair & interim CEO, respectively.

In June, the firm shared that the process to recruit a new non-executive chair was ‘progressing at pace’, whilst ‘a number of high calibre candidates’ for CEO were under consideration.

Interim Chair Ashton said: ‘The board was impressed with the high-quality candidates that we met throughout the recruitment process. Andy, however, stood out as the best candidate with his extensive board experience including as a chair and his strong track record in the international retail sector.’

Shares in JD were 0.7% higher at 123.17 pence each in London on Friday morning.

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