Accountant to chair postal regulator
Nigel Stapleton, former chief financial officer of publishing group Reed Elsevier, has been appointed to head up the postal regulator, Postcomm.
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His appointment as new chair of the Postal Services Commission, announced by trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt today, comes just days after the Royal Mail’s wild cat strike ended.
Clearly Stapleton will have to sort out a number of issues between employees and the Royal Mail, following the unofficial industrial action, supported by 20,000 workers, which has resulted in delays and backlogs in the delivery of mail.
Hewitt said: ‘Nigel will bring considerable business and financial experience to the role. He takes over the chair at a time of significant change in the postal market when the regulator has a key role overseeing the opening of the market to give customers access to a wide range of high quality competitively priced services whilst ensuring that all postal users continue to have access to the basic universal postal service at a uniform public tariff.’
Stapleton is currently chair of Uniq plc. Previous positions include chair of Cordiant 2003; chair of Veronis Suhler International Ltd from 1999 to 2001, chair of Reed International plc from 1997 to 1999, co-Chair of Reed Elsevier plc from 1996 to 1998, CFO of Reed Elsevier plc from 1993 to 1996.
He takes over from Graham Corbett who was appointed as the first chair of Postcomm in March 2000.