Former Greene King CFO Richard Smothers is to join Greggs as a non-executive director from 1 February 2026.
It is a role that former WH Smith CFO Robert Moorhead was due to begin in October. However his appointment was delayed in August when the travel retailer launched an investigation into an accountancy scandal that revealed a £30m black hole in its North American profits.
In November, Greggs announced in a statement to investors that Moorhead had “withdrawn his candidacy for the position of non-executive director”.
Smothers will assume the role of chair of the audit committee from 6 March and will join the audit, nominations and remuneration committees on appointment.
He served as Greene King CFO until early 2025 and previously held positions including CFO at Mothercare and director of group finance for Rexam. He spent 14 years at Tesco in senior finance roles both in the UK and internationally.
Smothers is currently a non-executive director on the board of RM, where he chairs the audit and risk committee, and is a non-executive director of Greene King.
Kate Ferry, who is a non-executive director and current chair of the audit committee, will retire from the board on 6 March.
“Kate has made an exceptional contribution to the board over the last six years and she will be truly missed,” said Greggs chair Matt Davies.
“We are delighted that Richard has accepted our invitation to join the board. He has extensive financial expertise in a listed company environment and great experience in retail which will be of significant benefit to our business.”
Smothers joins as Greggs continues to expand across the UK, having launched a ‘Bitesize Greggs’ shop format last month. It offers products to more customers in high-footfall locations that are constrained by space.
The smaller shop format will be rolled out alongside more traditional, larger shops in line with the company’s growth plans. As of mid-November, Greggs was on track to open around 120 net new shops in 2025, averaging around four new shop openings per week.
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