Compass Group plc has appointed a new CEO to replace Michael Bailey, the embattled executive who helped build Compass into the global presence it enjoys today. The new CEO, Richard Cousins...

FM Staff

will assume his position June 1 and comes to Compass from construction materials supplier BPB plc, which was sold to a larger British company last year. The London market reacted favorably to the news, rising about 4 percent when the appointment was announced on March 24.

Cousins will be faced with addressing the concerns of the London investment community, which savaged Compass stock valuations following several quarters of disappointing earnings and the disclosure that two now-dismissed former executives were involved in so-called U.N. “oil for food” program scandals.

Bailey, 57, joined the British foodservice management company when it was first looking to enter the U.S. market in 1993. He was instrumental in Compass’ decision to acquire Canteen, which gave it the initial foothold it subsequently used as a basis for assembling the $7 billion North American division which today accounts for about one-third of the firm’s worldwide sales. He spent his entire career in managed services, beginning as a trainee chef for the John Gardner company in the late 1960s, subsequently working for Trusthouse Forte and Sodexho.

Bailey also was the initial force behind the U.S. operations’ philosophy of “sectorization,” which undergirded many of its original acquisitions to enter specific U.S. foodservice market segments, and which laid the groundwork for its successful retention of acquired company "brands" to help it segment and penetrate specific parts of traditional U.S. foodservice markets.

In a 1997 intervew with Food Management, Bailey commented on the company’s growth prospects, saying, “If you go from nowehere to number three in three years, you get a lot of attention. We have certainly established our presence and name in the marketplace, not by adveritisng it, but by how we operate and compete and structure ourselves.”

Commenting on his own management philosophy, Bailey added, “You can’t run a company by memo. People need to know you, understand you and trust you . You have to give people a chance to ask questions, as difficult as they may be to answer. And if you don’t know the answer, you’d better be able to find it.”