Walpole, the not for profit organisation that represents the British luxury industry and over 180 leading British luxury brands including Burberry, Mulberry, Harrods and Jimmy Choo, today announces that Sir David Bell is retiring after six years as Chairman of Walpole. Following a vote by the Walpole Board of Directors, Ben Hughes has been appointed Chairman and will take over the role from September.

Ben Hughes has been on the Walpole Board since 2010 and is Global Commercial Director and Deputy CEO of the Financial Times as well as sitting on the management board of the Financial Times.  Ben also has overall responsibility for the FT’s conferences worldwide and runs the FT’s global print circulation. Previously Worldwide Advertising Director, Ben first joined the Financial Times in 1983. His first role was as Sales and Marketing Manager for France, based in the Paris office. In 1987, he was appointed Publishing Director for the Financial Times, in France. He became European Advertising Director in 1991 and in 1993 was appointed Advertising and Marketing Director for Continental Europe. He graduated from the University of Oxford with an MA (Hons) in Modern Languages.

Julia Carrick, CEO of Walpole said: “I would like to thank Sir David for the contribution he has made to Walpole over the last 20 years and as our Chairman since his appointment in 2007. He has been a real asset, helping grow the organization and providing valuable advice and guidance to the board, we are hugely grateful to him and wish him the very best.

We are absolutely delighted to welcome Ben on board as the new Chairman of Walpole.  Ben brings a wealth of corporate and international experience which will be invaluable in helping us to build on Walpole’s success and guiding it through its next stage of growth”.

Ben Hughes, Chairman-elect of Walpole said “”I am delighted and honoured to become Chair of Walpole at this crucial time in the group’s development and as we move into an exciting new phase of international expansion.”

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Lucy Frankland – Pelham Bell Pottinger – 0207 861 3885
Charlotte Keesing, General Manager, Walpole – 0207 873 3803
Emily Gibbs – Financial Times – 02078733184

Walpole is a non-profit-making organisation that furthers the interests of the British luxury industry by harnessing and sharing the collective knowledge, experience and resources of the membership – over 180 British Luxury Brands, committed to combining the best aspects of innovation, design, quality, tradition and service.

Formed in 1990 by top tier British companies, including Burberry, Harrods, Jimmy Choo, Alfred Dunhill, Thomas Pink and Fortnum and Mason, the membership provides a community for the exchange of best practice ideas to drive business development in both the UK and export markets.

The membership provides a community for the exchange of best practice, cross-industry networking and marketing, drives business development and lobbies Government.  Members are showcased to an increasingly wide audience through a programme of events and initiatives in the UK, Europe, US and Asia.

The Financial Times Group, one of the worlds’ leading business information companies, aims to provide a broad range of business information and services to the growing audience of internationally minded business people. The FT has a combined paid print and digital circulation of 600,000 (Deloitte assured, 2 January 2012 – 1 April 2012) and a combined print and online average daily readership of 2.2 million people worldwide (PwC assured, November 2011). FT.com has more than 4.5 million registered users and 285,475 paying digital subscribers. The newspaper, printed at 21 print sites across the globe, has a global print circulation of 300,584 (ABCs, May 2012).