John Ott named new Rank Group Chair

John H. Ott has been confirmed as the new Chair of The Rank Group Plc and will take up the role from 17 November 2025.

Alex Thursby had occupied the post for nearly six years before announcing that he would not stand for re-election at the 15 October Annual General Meeting.

Since that time, Senior Independent Director and Audit Chair, Karen Whitworth, has been acting as Rank's Interim Chair - she will now return to her regular roles.

Commenting on the appointment of Mr Ott, Whitworth said: "During a rigorous and wide-ranging selection process, John emerged as the stand-out candidate to become Rank's chair."

Mr Ott is currently a Senior Advisory Partner at Bain & Company, UK, where he has been in situ since 2006.

With around 36 years of financial services experience, Ott has worked as Group Director of Strategy Planning at Barclays Bank, and he already serves as Chairman of the Board at two other companies.

Whitworth referred to this experience as a decisive reason for his selection: "His wealth of experience in highly regulated industries, and advising and working with boards across the globe, will provide the Group with the expertise and leadership that it requires as we embark on the next phase of our strategic journey."

In October, the Rank Group reported its financial results covering the period from 1 July to 30 September - this included positive digital revenues, driven by a 31% growth in Grosvenor's online operations.

When Thursby announced that he was leaving his role he pointed at "a digital business which is beginning to scale" as one of the factors that convinced him the time was right to step down.