Whitbread chief executive Alan Parker has joined the board of Anglo-French electricals giant Kesa.

Parker, who retires from Whitbread next month, is joining Comet-owner Kesa as a non-executive director. Parker is one of the best known figures in the leisure world, and has been with Whitbread, which owns brands such as Costa Coffee and Beefeater, since 1992.

He will join the audit, remuneration and nomination committees of the Kesa board. The company’s chairman David Newlands said Parker “has spent his entire career in consumer facing services businesses in Europe.”