More FDs move up to CEO roles

Grainger FD Andrew Cunningham, who also serves as deputy CEO, takes up the CEO role having been acting CEO while Rupert Dickinson received treatment for ill heath.

Having started his career at Deloitte Haskins and Sells in London in 1978, becoming a partner in 1989, Cunningham joined Grainger in 1996 and was made deputy CEO in 2002. Grainger’s board said he was the “ideal” successor to Dickinson.

Channel 4 CEO Andy Duncan’s announcement that he will step down before the end of 2009 has provided the golden opportunity for its finance director, Anne Bulford, to grasp the role on an interim basis. Bulford joined Channel 4 in 2005 from her role as director of finance and business affairs at the Royal Opera House ­ Channel 4 had just created the group FD position ­ and she effectively replaced Channel 4’s chief executive, David Scott.

While at the Royal Opera House she also served as chair of regulator Ofcom’s audit committee and before that spent three years as FD for television company Carlton Productions. After 12 years at KPMG, Bulford moved into business as head of internal audit for the BBC in the early 1990s and, in 1996, became FD for BBC Production.

• Tesco’s UK finance director Eamonn O’Hare has joined Virgin Media as CFO, succeeding Jerry Elliott who had only a short stint in the role before returning to America due to ‘family health reasons’.