Penny Hughes CBE (born 1959) is a British businesswoman, and the chair of IQ Student Accommodation . She is the former chair of Aston Martin and The Gym Group .

Early life [ edit ]

Hughes was born in West Kirby , the youngest of three daughters in a middle-class family. ^[2]

Hughes was educated at Birkenhead High School . ^{[3] [4]} While at the school she represented the county at hockey and lacrosse . ^[3] She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Sheffield in 1980. ^{[3] [5]}

Career [ edit ]

She joined Procter & Gamble , as a technologist, then moved to the sales and marketing department. She was then recruited by the Milk Marketing Board , and later joined Coca-Cola as a brand manager. By 1989, having successfully overseen the merger of the bottling interests of Coca-Cola UK and Schweppes , she was appointed commercial director. In 1993, at the age of 33 she became president of the UK and Ireland businesses of Coca-Cola. ^{[6] [7]}

She has been a director of the Bodyshop , GAP , Trinity Mirror , Next , Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken , Vodafone and Reuters . She was a non-executive director of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group between 2010 and 2018 and a member of the boards remuneration committee. ^[8] She is a non-executive director of Morrisons , Cable & Wireless and Home Retail Group . ^[3] She is a trustee of the British Museum and president of the Advertising Association . ^[7]

In February 2018, Hughes was appointed as the chair of IQ Student Accommodation , the UK's largest provider of student housing. ^[9]

In September 2018, Hughes was appointed as the chair of Aston Martin . ^[10] In January 2020 it was announced that Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll would replace Hughes as chairman after purchasing a 25% stake in the company. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

In July 2022, Hughes stepped down as chair of The Gym Group . ^[14]

Honours [ edit ]

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to the media industry. ^{[15] [16]}

Personal life [ edit ]

She has two sons. ^{[17] [2]}

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

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