Sainsbury's wants David Tyler as chairman

14th Sep 2009 08:37

Former finance chief of GUS, David Tyler, is expected to be named as the new chairman of supermarket giant Sainsbury's shortly.Tyler, 56, will take over from Sir Philip Hampton who is leaving the food retailer following his appointment as chairman of government-owned lender, Royal Bank of Scotland.He's been favourite for the role since rival candidate John Peace's decision to chair Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered put him out of the reckoning.Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King, who's led a spirited recovery in the supermarket's fortunes, is expected to welcome Tyler to the board this month after receiving the backing of major shareholders.Tyler comes with bags of experience, having been chief number cruncher at GUS, which used to own Argos, Homebase, Burberry and Experian, for nine years. In a former life he was finance director at auctioneer Christie's.