Royal Mail pay row boss has racked up SIX jobs

THE woman at the centre of the pay row engulfing Royal Mail has a string of jobs that earn her hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

Orna Ni-Chionna, 62, is under fire for heading a remuneration panel that signed off a bumper deal for new boss Rico Back. But this is only a part-time role. she has jobs at fashion house Burberry, over-50s specialists saga and consultancy Eden McCallum.

Miss Ni-Chionna, known as Lady turner because she is married to former City regulator Lord turner, is also deputy chairman of the National trust and a trustee of sir John soane’s Museum in London.

Her jobs at stock market listed companies Royal Mail, Burberry and saga earn her almost £300,000 a year.

Labour MP Peter Kyle, who sits on the Commons business committee, said: ‘It is clear to me that she has very serious questions to answer about how these decisions on pay were made because it has compre- hensively failed the common sense test. Whether this was a result of overwork or just poor judgment is something that needs answering. there may well be lessons for other boards looking to appoint their remuneration committee chairmen. the quantity of her commitments has certainly sent a red flag up.’

Miss Ni-Chionna is expected to be hauled before MPs on the business committee to answer questions about the crisis at Royal Mail. Her pay panel approved a near £6million windfall for German executive Mr Back before he took charge.

she also signed off Mr Back’s £640,000 a year salary, which is 17 per cent higher than that paid to his predecessor Dame Moya Greene. It could reach £2.7million through bonuses and other awards.

Miss Ni-Chionna faced humiliation last week when 70 per cent of Royal Mail investors voted against the remuneration report in one of the biggest shareholder rebellions in British corporate history.

In a further blow, 15 per cent of shareholders opposed her reappointment to the board. she is paid £85,000 a year.

the issue of business leaders taking on too many directorships has become known as overboarding.

James Jarvis, corporate governance analyst at the Institute of Directors, said: ‘Having experience in a few boardrooms can make a director more effective.

‘However, organisations need to ensure that their board members have sufficient time available to fulfil their duties.’

a Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘Orna NiChionna has sufficient time to meet her responsibilities at Royal Mail.’

Fury at £6m deal for Royal Mail chief who’ll keep living in Switzerland

From the Mail, July 19