Kier have announced the appointment of Matthew Lester as chairman of its board of directors, with effect from 1 January 2020. 

Lester will replace Philip Cox, who is standing down both as chairman and from the board.

A chartered accountant, Lester qualified with Arthur Andersen before spending the early part of his career with Kleinwort Benson.

In his executive career, he was the group chief financial officer of Royal Mail plc from 2010 to 2017, having previously been the group finance director of ICAP plc and held a number of senior finance positions at Diageo plc. 

More recently, Lester has been a non-executive director of Man Group plc (since 2011), Barclays PLC (since 2017) and Capita plc (since 2017). In addition to the role of chair, Lester will also be the chairman of the Nomination Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee.

Commenting on his appointment, Lester said: "I am delighted to be joining Kier as its chairman. I look forward to working with the board to deliver the group's strategic priorities and in continuing to build the foundations for its future."

On joining Kier, Lester will stand down from the board of directors of Barclays PLC with effect from 1 January 2020.