Marks & Spencer has named Jan du Plessis, chairman of British American Tobacco, as a non-executive director.

The strengthening of the board with a heavyweight appointment may go some way towards assuaging concern over the retailer’s corporate governance following Sir Stuart Rose’s elevation to executive chairman earlier this year.

Marks & Spencer deputy chairman Sir David Michels said du Plessis’s arrival on November 1 “strengthens our governance credentials”.

Du Plessis, a former finance director of Swiss luxury goods group Richemont is also a non-executive director of Lloyds TSB and Rio Tinto. Rose said he would bring “a wide range of international business experience and brand knowledge”.