Whitbread appoints Christine Hodgson as chair

Christine Hodgson has been appointed chair at Whitbread, replacing Adam Crozier, who has held the role for the past seven years.

She will officially take over as chair of the Premier Inn owner on 1 September, while Crozier will retire from the board on this date.

Hodgson, who is also chair of water company Severn Trent PLC, is a FTSE 100 chair with a background in technology, sustainability and finance.

Previous positions included executive chair of Capgemini UK PLC, senior independent director of Standard Chartered and chair of private consulting firm Newton.

She said: “It is an honour to be appointed chair of Whitbread. Whitbread is a business with strong brands, an experienced leadership team and 34,000 committed team members across the organisation. It’s an exciting time to be joining, as the company continues to deliver on its Five-Year Plan, and Premier Inn’s expansion in Germany gathers pace. I look forward to leading the Board and working alongside the talented teams as we unlock the Group’s full potential.”

Richard Gillingwater, senior independent director, who led the selection process, added: “We have conducted a thorough process, and it was evident that Christine will be an outstanding successor to Adam. Christine’s experience working with high-profile consumer and technology businesses will be hugely valuable over the coming years. On behalf of the whole board, I would like to thank Adam for his guidance, wisdom, enthusiasm and commitment, steering the company through a period of significant change to create sustainable value for shareholders.”

Crozier commented: “It has been a privilege to lead the Whitbread board through this period of growth and change. I’m proud that as I leave the business, we are on course for Premier Inn to become Europe’s number one budget hotel business. I want to thank my colleagues on the board, and the whole Whitbread team, for their support during my time as chair, and wish Christine and everyone in the business every success in the future.”

It comes after the budget hotel brand reported a 1% drop in group revenue for the 52 weeks to 27 February 2025 amid restaurant closures and cost pressures.