EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION TO GOVERNANCE SS S TRTR In October we announced the appointment of Jean Tomlin as an TR AA Independent Non-executive Director and member of the Nomination A TETE Committee. Jean’s HR background combined with her luxury and TE GG G II I CC automotive sector experience will be of great benefit to the Board and C R R I look forward to working with Jean in the year ahead. R EE E PP P OO O RR BOARD INDEPENDENCE R TT The composition of our Board is unique. With the Board changes T during the year, we now have seven Shareholder Representative GG Directors on the Board. As a result, we no longer meet the G OO independence requirements of the UK Corporate Governance Code. O VEVE However, I am comfortable that this does not present a governance VE RR R NANNAN issue. Our Shareholder Representative Directors are diverse and act NAN independently of one another and all our Independent Non-executive CC C EE Directors are highly experienced. To comply with the independence E requirements of the Code would make our Board unwieldy and we need to maintain the Board at such a size to continue to promote FF F II effective discussion and decision making. I NANNAN NAN CC BOARD DIVERSITY C IALIAL Recognising the unique composition of our Board, our Board Diversity IAL S S LAWRENCE Policy states that we seek to achieve and maintain 40% of Board S TT T AA STROLL positions which are not subject to shareholder appointments to be A TT T EE EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN held by women. That percentage is currently 50%. Of our total Board E MM M EE positions, 27% are held by women. The Board is committed to E NN N TT achieving and maintaining diversity at Board level and throughout the T SS business and will continue to monitor the progress being made. S DEAR SHAREHOLDER FF F UU I am pleased to introduce the Governance section of this year’s Annual BOARD EVALUATION U RR R TT Report. In this section we provide detail on the Board’s roles and Due to the composition of the Board significantly changing again this T HH H EE responsibilities, an overview of the activities of the Board and our year, we decided to undertake an internal Board evaluation again with E RR R INF INF Committees over the year and our compliance with the UK Corporate the assistance of a third-party provider which assisted with the INF Governance Code. questionnaires and the analysis of the results and provided external OROR benchmark data. More information on our Board evaluation is set out OR MM Our commitment to effective corporate governance supports the on pages 92-93. M AA A TT decisions we make to create long-term sustainable value for the T II I ONON ON benefit of all our stakeholders. Good governance also provides a I would like to thank all the members of the Board for their significant platform for us to achieve cultural change and creates a balance of efforts and valuable contributions during the year and take this accountability and empowerment, in line with our values. opportunity to thank our employees, our customers, our shareholders and all our other stakeholders for your continued support. BOARD CHANGES The composition of our Board has continued to evolve this year. We Yours sincerely, have welcomed two new Shareholder Representatives to the Board. As a result of Geely’s investment in the Company, Daniel Li joined the LAWRENCE STROLL Board in July. Cyrus Jilla joined the Board in October as a representative EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN of Ernesto Bertarelli, a significant member of the Yew Tree Consortium. Both appointments are an important part of the Company’s relationships with our strategic shareholders and I value the contribution and perspective that Daniel and Cyrus bring to our Board discussions. Antony Sheriff stepped down from the Board at our Annual General Meeting in May to focus on his other directorships and commitments. As a result, Sir Nigel Boardman became our Senior Independent Director. I am very grateful for the support that Sir Nigel provides me in my role as Executive Chairman and his leadership of the Non-executive Directors. ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2023 75