BAA appoints Rudd and Stevens

Gavin Lipsith

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Former Alliance Boots chairman and Metropolitan Police Commissioner to steer BAA through regulatory minefield

UK airports group has announced two non-executive appointments which it hopes will improve the business “against a backdrop of regulatory investigations”, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Ferrovial-owned company hopes the appointment of former Alliance Boots chairman Nigel Rudd and former Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens.

Rudd becomes BAA non-executive chairman, replacing Ferrovial president Rafael del Pino, who was acting chairman. Stevens—who is an international security advisor to UK prime minister Gordon Brown—has been appointed non-executive director.

The appointments of two experienced managers with extensive experience of regulatory dealings—Stevens through his political police posting and Rudd through his experience of the tightly-regulated pharmacy and aviation markets—will be useful as BAA gears itself up to face the findings of the UK Competition Commission’s findings into its investigation of the airport group’s dominance in the UK airport market.