Christopher Pearce, a chartered accountant, will take on the position today (Tuesday) after retiring from Rentokil Initial last year. He is also chairman of the audit committee of high-street retailer Debenhams.
He trained at Coopers Brothers (later Coopers & Lybrand and now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and has worked at merchant bank Schroders, and at County Natwest, focusing on corporate finance.
The ICAEW said Pearce would bring with him ‘considerable knowledge and expertise’ to the job. He was welcomed to his post by Chris Jackson, head of the finance and management faculty at the ICAEW.
‘Pearce’s long and varied career enables him to brings tremendous wealth of knowledge and experience in all areas of finance, which will benefit both the Committee and our members,’ Jackson said.