Board of Directors and Operating Board

Board of Directors

Oliver Stocken

Chairman

Oliver was a director of NM Rothschild & Sons and held several roles within Barclays Group culminating in his appointment as group finance director of Barclays PLC. In 2000, he was appointed to the GUS board where he chaired the audit committee and subsequently the remuneration committee. In October 2006, he became chairman of Home Retail Group. He is a non-executive director of Standard Chartered plc and chairman of Stanhope plc and Oval Limited. Oliver is also chairman of the Trustees of the Natural History Museum and chairman of the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Terry Duddy

Chief Executive

Terry began his career at Letraset working in personnel management and then in product management. In 1984, he joined the Dixons Stores Group where he held a variety of commercial positions, including sales director of Currys, product marketing director of the Dixons Stores Group and, latterly, managing director of PC World. Terry joined GUS in August 1998 as chief executive of the newly acquired Argos, becoming a GUS Director later that year. In 2000 he was appointed chief executive of Argos Retail Group. In October 2006, he became chief executive of Home Retail Group. He is a non-executive director of Hammerson plc.

Richard Ashton

Finance Director

Richard started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he trained as a chartered accountant. In 1994, he joined GE where he spent eight years and held a variety of positions. These included chief financial officer of GE Capital’s pan-European equipment financing business, headquartered in the Netherlands, assistant to GE Capital’s chief financial officer in the US and various finance roles in the UK. Richard joined Argos Retail Group as finance director in November 2001. In October 2006, he became finance director of Home Retail Group.

Penny Hughes

Non-Executive Director

Penny spent ten years with Coca Cola, initially as marketing director and ultimately as president of Coca-Cola GB & Ireland. She has held a number of non-executive roles on the boards of international businesses such as Vodafone, Trinity Mirror, Body Shop, Reuters and GAP. Currently she serves on the board of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc and Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc. She is President of the Advertising Association and a Trustee of the British Museum. Penny joined the Board of Home Retail Group in December 2006 and chairs the remuneration committee.

John Coombe

Non-Executive Director

John held a number of senior fi nancial roles within Charterhouse Group plc and Charter Consolidated plc before joining Glaxo Holdings in 1986. Appointed to the board in 1992, he was ultimately chief fi nancial offi cer of GlaxoSmithKline for five years before retiring in 2005. He joined the GUS board in April 2005. He became a non-executive director of Home Retail Group in October 2006. He is the senior independent director and chairs the audit committee of Home Retail Group. He is a non-executive director of HSBC Holdings, chairman of Hogg Robinson Group and a former member of the Code Committee of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers. Until 2003, he was a member of the UK Accounting Standards Board. He is also a trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts Trust, where he chairs the audit committee.

Mike Darcey

Non-Executive Director

Mike joined BSkyB in 1998, initially as head of strategic planning, before becoming group director of strategy. In 2006, he was appointed chief operating officer. He sits on the boards of two television channel Joint Ventures – National Geographic Channel (outside of the USA) and Nickelodeon UK and is chairman of the board of trustees of the Royal Television Society. In his earlier career he worked in a consulting environment, covering a broad range of industries but especially media, telecommunications and electricity.

Board Committees

Audit Committee:

John Coombe (Chairman), Mike Darcey, Penny Hughes

Remuneration Committee:

Penny Hughes (Chairman), John Coombe, Mike Darcey, Oliver Stocken

Nomination Committee:

Oliver Stocken (Chairman), John Coombe, Mike Darcey, Terry Duddy, Penny Hughes