Tesco has appointed two non-executive directors to its board following high-profile departures earlier in the year.

Both appointees have come from outside the company and will take up their roles in the first half of 2009.

The first, Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker, will join as a non-executive director from January 1.

Tammenoms Bakker joins Tesco from the Dutch Ministry of Transport where she was director-general, with her most recent responsibility being for civil aviation and freight transport.

She has also held senior roles at Shell, Quest International and McKinsey & Co.

Also joining in a non-executive role, Ken Hanna comes from Cadbury plc – formerly Cadbury Schweppes plc – where he held the position of chief financial officer since 2004.

Tesco chairman David Reid said: “I am delighted that both Ken and Jacqueline are joining the board of Tesco. Ken is a highly respected finance director and also brings with him considerable knowledge of both developed and emerging markets. Jacqueline’s experience in both the private and public sectors, and her strong international background, will be an asset to our board.”

The new appointments have been made to replace two previous directors who left the Tesco board this year.

Carolyn McCall resigned in April after a conflict of interest over a libel action by Tesco against Guardian Media Group, of which she is chief executive. The Guardian newspaper had claimed the supermarket was avoiding taxes through offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands, but subsequently apologised and the case was dropped.

Mervin Davies resigned in October over a potential conflict of interest concerning Tesco’s expansion of its personal finance service which had begun to overlap with Standard Charter Plc, which he also chairs.