Andy Hornby isn't Fred the Shred

That's the message that came out of Stefano Pessina, the billionaire boss of Alliance Boots when I spoke to him earlier today.
Mr Pessina is acutely conscious of the fact that some people are wondering why on earth a man identified with a spectacular corporate collapse is the right person to take Nottingham's biggest business forward.
That's why he spent months sizing Hornby up, holding a series of secret meetings with him, poring over his history and putting him in front of his own senior directors before reaching a decision.
"I went through his history and I tried to understand him and I am convinced that he has a lot of personal integrity," he told me.
Pessina makes the point that unlike banking's bete noir, Sir Fred Goodwin, Hornby deliberately waived his right to a fat pay-off when HBOS hit the skids – even though the strategy that did for the bank was one he inherited from his predecessor.
That there is a big risk involved in this appointment is obvious from the adjectives Pessina employed to describe the process: it was, he told me, "discreet", "quiet", "delicate".
He also employed the same phrase three times during my conversation with him: "We are not hiring him because he has been a banker."
You bet they're not.
They are hiring Andy Hornby because he is a graduate of the Asda Wal-Mart school of retailing – the same school that produced Richard Baker, Boots' last chief executive before it was bought by Mr Pessina and the American private equity firm KKR.
It is the second time Boots has tried to hire him. In 2003 he turned them down because Halifax offered him more money and more responsibility – a responsibility that went on to tarnish his reputation.
His job will be to use the Boots brand to move into new areas of retailing. But don’t expect him to be the front man for any foray into financial services.
"That is not top of the list of priorities," said Mr Pessina.
'Nuff said.
For more read Tuesday's story in the Nottingham Evening Post Business Post