William Hill adds Jane Hanson to board of directors

William Hill has named Jane Hanson as an independent non-executive director, with effect from July 1.

Upon joining the board, Hanson will also become a member of the bookmaker’s nomination and audit and risk management committees.

Hanson currently serves as a non-executive director and chair of the board risk committee at Direct Line Insurance Group, as well as chair of The Reclaim Fund, a body that seeks to reappropriate money lying in dormant bank and building society accounts for good causes. She is also honorary treasurer and trustee of the Disasters Emergency Committee charty and an independent member of the fairness committee at pensions provider ReAssure. 

Earlier in her career, Hanson also held a number of executive roles, including director of audit and risk and governance director at insurance broker Aviva.

Hanson’s appointment increases female representation on the William Hill board to 44%, ahead of its initial target level of 33% by the end of 2020.

“Jane’s proven NED experience working at Board level in FTSE, regulated and complex organisations will be invaluable to William Hill and makes her a great addition to the board,” William Hill chairman, Roger Devlin, said.

Gordon Wilson will step down from the audit and risk management committee when Hanson joins the bookmaker next month.

The appointment comes after a mixed start to 2019 for William Hill, which saw revenue increase 2% year-on-year in the first 17 weeks of the year, despite a like-for-like drop in revenue for its online arm and a decline in its retail business.