Online beach holiday retailer, On The Beach has appointed Justine Greening as a non-Executive Director.
This will be the former Transport Secretary’s first commercial role since quitting politics ahead of the 2019 General Election.
“I am excited to be joining the Board of On the Beach at a time when the UK’s vaccine rollout continues apace, and consumers can look forward to the prospect of going on holiday again,” she explained.
“Simon [Cooper, CEO] and his team have built a great business which puts the consumer at the forefront of everything that they do and I look forward to working with him, Richard [Pennycock, Chair] and the wider Board as On the Beach continues on its mission to be Europe’s leading online retailer of beach holidays.”
It’s believed that the Manchester group will be hoping to build on her political contacts as it seeks to bounce back after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The former MP trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PriceWaterHouse in the UK and Switzerland, before taking a finance role at SmithKline Beecham and later GlaxoSmithKline. She was Head of Sales and Marketing Finance at AA/Centrica, before moving into politics.
As well as a year as Transport Secretary, she was Secretary of State for Education, and Minister for Women and Equalities for 2 years; Secretary of State for International Development for 4 years and Economic Secretary to Treasury for one.
Most recently she founded the Social Mobility Pledge campaign.
“We are delighted that Justine has agreed to join the Board of On the Beach as a Non-Executive Director. Justine has had both a successful business career and an illustrious political career,” added Richard Pennycook, Chair of On the Beach.
“Her important work upon leaving Government to establish the Social Mobility Pledge has been instrumental in changing the way businesses and universities think about social mobility. It is a privilege that Justine has chosen On the Beach as her first corporate Non-Executive Director role and we look forward to working with her and benefiting from her extensive knowledge and expertise. As the travel sector recovers from the pandemic, we expect some fairly major reforms to the regulatory landscape. Justine’s experience, in and out of Westminster, will be invaluable as On the Beach navigates these reforms and pursues opportunities to grow our market share both in the UK and internationally.”
