Nicholas Cadbury is defecting from electronic components supplier Premier Farnell to become the new Group Finance Director of Whitbread, the Costa Coffee and Premier Inns owner.Cadbury will succeed Christopher Rodgers as chief bean counter at Whitbread, with Rodgers moving on to become Managing Director of Costa Coffee. Cadbury will be given a place on the Whitbread board when he joins the company on a date yet to be determined.Prior to his stint at Premier Farnell, Cadbury was Finance Director at Dixons, the consumer electronics retailer.To replace Cadbury, Premier Farnell has gone back to the future and appointed Mark Whiteling, who spent five years as Chief Financial Officer at Premier Farnell, before leaving in August of last year.Whiteling's role this time round will have an extra dimension, as his reponsibilities will include being in charge of the company's information technology operations.Whiteling is currently a non-executive director of media group Future.JH