Rudd named as the next chairman of Invensys

The City grandee Sir Nigel Rudd is to add the chairmanship of Invensys to a curriculum vitae that already includes board positions at two other FTSE 100 companies.

Sir Nigel, who was knighted in 1996 for services to manufacturing, is already chairman of BAA and Pendragon, as well as deputy chairman of Barclays and a non-executive director of both BAE Systems and Sappi. He will become deputy chairman at Invensys in January before taking on the top job at its annual general meeting in July.

The 62-year-old will succeed Martin Jay, who has led the the automation and controls specialist for five years. Mr Jay said: "[Sir Nigel's] extensive industrial knowledge, together with his considerable record of being chairman of major public companies, are ideally suited to help Invensys on the next stage of its journey."

Sir Nigel made his name from the creation and subsequent demerger of the industrial giant Williams Holdings. It was broken up in November 2000 to form the security company Chubb and the safety equipment specialist Kidde. Sir Nigel was non-executive chairman of Kidde until 2003 and has also held the chairmanships of Alliance Boots and Pilkington, the glass-maker.

Sir Nigel said yesterday: "Invensys is now at an interesting point as it moves to build upon the sound financial and operational foundation that has been created."