Moves of the month - British Land gets the Abbey habit

British Land chairman and former chief executive John Ritblat will cover the role until Hester relinquishes his current job. Chris Gibson-Smith, chairman of British Land’s nomination committee, said: “The breadth of his experience will be invaluable and we are confident he will be a worthy successor to John Ritblat.”

Hester rose through various appointments within Credit Suisse First Boston, including the CFO role and global head of the fixed income division, both in New York and London. Hester said of his new position: “It is a natural time to take on something new. I know British Land well and am excited to be joining.” Philip Yea, former FD of Diageo, was set to take on the position at British Land, but instead joined 3i.

Other moves

Rick Medlock has been appointed CFO and director of Inmarsat. Medlock joins from NDS Group, where he served as CFO and company secretary. He is currently a non-exec director of Mondiale Publishing.

Lloyd’s, the London insurance market, has appointed investment banker Luke Savage as its new finance director. Savage has more than 17 years of experience in investment banking, including appointments at Morgan Stanley and Lloyds Bank. He replaces Andrew Moss, who left the company earlier this year to serve as group finance director at Aviva.

Jon Mitchell has been appointed FD of TheTrainline and will take on executive responsibility for the finance and business activities within the company. Mitchell has held a variety of senior positions within the Virgin Group – moving from Virgin USA, where he worked on the launch of Virgin Mobile and the demerger of TheTrainline from Virgin Rail Group.

Julian Hance, former group FD of Royal & Sun Alliance, has been appointed non-executive director at Wellington Underwriting and will chair the group’s audit committee. Hance is a consultant to the Accounting Standards Board and member of the Insurance Accounting Advisory Committee.

Roger Barlow has joined Libertas Capital, the financial services firm, as chief financial officer. Barlow, vice chairman (designate) and chairman of the audit committee at Marsden Building Society, has more than 25 years of experience at KPMG, where he served as partner for 13 years.

John Diggins has joined real estate advisers Knight Frank as finance partner. Diggins, previously a senior partner at KPMG’s transaction services group in London, succeeds Gus Allen, who will retire at the end of the financial year.

Video mobile network company 3 has appointed Andrew Moffat as chief financial officer. Moffat joins from 3’s Italian office, where he was chief financial controlling officer. He will be responsible for the internal audit, procurement and legal matters in his new role.

Publishing company Square One Group has appointed Roger Baker as finance director. Baker has 15 years of contract publishing experience, having previously worked as FD at BLA, Citrus and JBCP.

Former Springs Group finance director David Sharpe has been appointed head of corporate finance at accountancy firm Bentleys. Sharpe has particular expertise in the leisure and construction industry.

Former Grant Thornton graduate trainee Sara Bishop has been promoted from account manager to FD of scotch whisky distillers Burn Stewart. Managing director Steve Campbell said: “Sara has extensive industry knowledge through both her auditing exposure prior to joining Burn Stewart and her involvement at senior level within our new group.”

Robotic Technology Systems has appointed Craig Slater as group FD. The former group FD of 4imprint has also held senior positions at CSI and Avonside Group.

Eckoh Technologies has announced the resignation of group FD Brian McArthur and non-executive chairman David Best.