The former boss of WH Smith Kate Swann has been appointed chief executive of SSP, an international company which operates food and drink outlets in airports and railway stations.
She will take up the role on 4 September, leading the business which operates franchises for WH Smith, Marks & Spencer Simply Food and Starbucks, as well its own brands including Upper Crust, Millie's Cookies and Pumpkin.
SSP is owned by the Swedish private equity firm EQT and posted £1.74bn of sales in 2012. It was sold by support services group Compass in 2006 and has its headquarters in the UK, but operates at 400 locations in 30 countries, including the US, Germany, France, Russia, China and Australia.
Swann was chief executive at WH Smith for 10 years and was credited with turning the business around with an extensive cost-cutting programme and a change in focus.
She worked with SSP as she created and built up WH Smith's travel business to cover airports, railway stations, hospitals and motorway service stations.
Swann said on Monday she was looking forward to continuing to drive growth at the company. She succeeds Andrew Lynch, who is leaving after nine years in the role.
SSP's chairman, Vagn Soerensen, said: "SSP will benefit from Kate's vast retail experience from WH Smith in accelerating growth and working with business partners, while continuously improving the customer experience."
The group employs 30,000 people and serves more than one million customers a day.