Sir Philip Hampton, chair of pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline, has been appointed to lead Women on Boards, an independent review into the representation of women in the executive level of FTSE 350 companies.

The government announced in a statement this morning, Hampton, who is also a former chair of banking group RBS and retailer Sainsbury’s, will succeed Lord Davies as chair to spearhead the next phase of the review. Lord Davies launched the review back in February 2011.

The next stage will focus on building the pipeline for female executives and emerging non-executive directors, continuing the work already done on increasing board representation. This was one of the key recommendations from Lord Davies's latest report last year.

In his first move as chair, Sir Philip has appointed Dame Helen Alexander as his deputy chair. Dame Helen is chair of business information company UBM. There was no deputy chair previously.

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