SFI Group, the late-night bar operator, has poached Po Na Na finance director Tim Andrews who will take control of the books from James Kowszun who is leaving the company to join Hartford Group as chief executive.
SFI, whose brands include Slug & Lettuce, Bar Med and Litten Tree, have been searching for a finance chief since February.
The have been a number of high-profile changes in the SFI boardroom in recent times. Chairman Tony Hill recently stepped down to take a non-executive position and Andrew Latham was promoted to replace him, as chief executive.
Mr Andrews, 39, has extensive finance experience, having held two similar positions with two publicly-quoted companies in the leisure sector.
He also has knowledge of the existing SFI estate. He was finance director of Slug & Lettuce between 1998 and 2000, before it was bought by SFI.
He joined Po Na Na in 2000. The incoming finance boss said: I look forward to working with Andrew Latham and the SFI team and playing my part in the continued SFI success story."
Chief executive Andrew Latham said he was delighted Tim was joining the executive team. "I have every confidence that he will continue to build on the excellent work of James Kowszun," he said.
"I would like to thank James sincerely for his important contribution during his time with SFI. He was responsible for considerable progress in developing the financial functions to keep abreast of the very rapid increases in the scale of our business."
Related stories:
Tony Hill steps down at SFI (19 February 2002)
Finance director Kowszun quits SFI (11 February 2002)