US Edition 
Tesco turns to Unilever again for new director
Tesco appoints Byron Grote to board as Gareth Bullock becomes third non-executive in a week to announce they will step down
Tesco has turned to Unilever for another new director after naming Byron Grote, an American, as non-executive director.
Mr Grote is a non-executive director at Unilever, as well as Anglo American, Standard Chartered and paint group Akzo Nobel. His broad collection of non-executive directorships follows a 25-year career at BP where he rose to become chief financial officer.
The appointment of Mr Grote comes after Dave Lewis was poached from Unilever last year to become Tesco's new chief executive. Patrick Cescau, the senior independent director at Tesco and head of the nominations committee, is a former Unilever chief executive,
Mr Grote will replace Gareth Bullock on the board, who Tesco say is stepping down to focus more time to his role on the board of Tesco Bank, where he is also a non-executive director. The exit of Mr Bullock comes after Tesco announced last week that Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker and Liv Garfield will stand down as non-executives.
The Tesco board is going through a period of unprecedented change. As well as the arrival of Mr Lewis, Alan Stewart as joined as finance director, while Sir Richard Broadbent is being replaced as chairman by John Allan. In addition, Mikael Ohlsson, the former boss of Ikea, and Richard Cousins, the chief executive of Compass, have been appointed as new non-executive directors.
Shareholders have pushed Tesco to add more retail experience to its board, but Mr Grote has never worked in the industry. Tesco said Mr Grote "will bring extensive executive and non-executive financial and strategic experience to the board". Following his appointment to Tesco, Mr Byron will step down from Unilever's board in April.
Marks & Spencer also announced changes to its board on Wednesday. Jan du Plessis has stepped down as senior independent director, with Vindi Banga, who is already on the board, replacing him. Mr du Plessis is the chairman of Rio Tinto and is set to become chairman of SABMiller in the summer, while Mr Banga is a partner at private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice.
Robert Swannell, chairman of M&S, said: "On behalf of the M&S board, I would like to thank Jan for his outstanding commitment and contribution to M&S. His insights and experience have been invaluable over the last seven years. We wish him well in his new appointment at SABMiller."
Mr Swannell said that M&S expects to announce the appointment of a new non-executive director "in due course".