Home furnishings retailer Dunelm has confirmed that Alison Brittain, Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair Designate, will succeed Andy Harrison as Chair of the Board and the Nominations Committee on 1 January 2023.

The news follows Dunelm’s previous announcement back in July this year, which will see Alison leave her role as CEO of Whitbread PLC, the FTSE 100 leisure business, a position she has held since 2015. In this post she has been responsible for successfully scaling the company’s various hospitality brands before overseeing the sale of its Costa Coffee portfolio in 2019.

Alison said: “Dunelm is a company I have long admired as a customer and I love that it’s an entrepreneurial, purpose-led business with strong values and lots of ambition. The last two years have reinforced the importance of the home in all of our lives, and I am delighted to be joining a team with such a fabulous track record of focussing on delivering value for customers and a company with fantastic opportunity for future growth. I look forward to working with the Board and building on Andy’s achievements as Chair.”

Andy Harrison, Chairman of Dunelm, added: “I am thrilled to have an individual of Alison’s considerable talent and experience join our Board. Dunelm has emerged from Covid as a bigger and stronger business, with an even bigger opportunity ahead. I am sure that Alison will help us to unlock this potential even faster. She has strong values that are clearly aligned to ours and I look forward to working with her as she takes over the reins in due course.”