Appointment

Marks & Spencer PLC
29 March 2001

m      press release







29 March 2001

               MARKS & SPENCER TO APPOINT NEW FINANCE DIRECTOR

Marks & Spencer today announces that Alison Reed, Finance Director, UK Retail,
has been appointed as Finance Director Designate of Marks and Spencer p.l.c.
She will take up her position as an Executive Director on the Board on a date
to be confirmed, when she will replace Robert Colvill, the current Finance
Director.

Alison Reed, 44, is a Chartered Accountant, qualifying with Touche Ross in
London in 1981 after graduating from Exeter University. She joined Marks &
Spencer in 1984 and, after a wide range of roles in the Finance Group, was
appointed in 1990 to be the Executive Assistant to the Chairman & Chief
Executive. In 1992, she became the Commercial Executive for Home Furnishings
and Gifts, and, in 1995, was appointed Divisional Director for Logistics. She
returned to the Finance Group as Group Financial Controller in 1996 and was
appointed UK Retail Finance Director in 1999. She is also a non-executive
director of HSBC Bank plc, a position she has held since 1996.





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