He will join the board on January 1 2017 and will succeed Peter Gershon as chairman on April 1 2017, following Gershon’s retirement on March 31.
Murphy joined Tate & Lyle from private equity firm The Blackstone Group, where he has served as chairman for its European division since 2008.
His early career was in the food and drink industry, with Grand Metropolitan – now Diageo – and Greencore Group, where he was ceo from 1991–1995.
Before joining Blackstone, Murphy was ceo of Kingfisher from 2003–2008. He previously was ceo of Carlton Communications from 2000–2003 and Exel ceo from 1995–2000.
Transitioned to chairman
Gershon welcomed Murphy to the board of Tate & Lyle and was looking forward to working with him during the first quarter of 2017 as he transitioned to chairman.
“Gerry’s extensive experience in the food industry and as chief executive, investor and independent director in leading international companies equips him well to guide Tate & Lyle in the years ahead,” said Gershon.
Murphy will join the corporate responsibility and nominations committees and will assume chairmanship of the nominations committee with effect from April 1 2017.
Murphy said he was honoured to succeed Gershon as chairman and was excited about working with ceo Javed Ahmed, the board and the leadership team to help deliver the company’s growth agenda.
‘Feels like coming home’
“Having started my career in the food industry, joining Tate & Lyle feels like coming home,” added Murphy.
The company also announced Douglas Hurt would assume the role of senior independent director, in addition to his role as chairman of the audit committee.
He will succeed Liz Airey, who intends to step down from the role on December 31. She is to retire from the board at Tate & Lyle’s annual general meeting in July 2017.
Gershon said: “I would like to thank Liz for her 10 years of outstanding service and significant contribution to the board and, in particular, for her time served as chairman of the audit committee and as senior independent director.”