Penny Hughes

On 31 January 2020 it was announced that Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll was leading a consortium who will pay £182 million in return for 25% stake in the company. The re-structuring includes a £318 million cash infusion through a new rights issue, generating a total of £500 million for the company. Stroll will also be named as chairman, replacing Hughes.

In February 2018, Hughes was appointed as the chair of IQ Student Accommodation, the UK's largest provider of student housing.

In September 2018, Hughes was appointed as the chair of Aston Martin.

She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to the media industry.

She has been a director of the Bodyshop, GAP, Trinity Mirror, Next, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, Vodafone and Reuters. She has been a non-executive director with Royal Bank of Scotland Group since January 2010, and a member of the boards remuneration committee. She is a non-executive director of Morrisons, Cable & Wireless and Home Retail Group. She is a trustee of the British Museum and president of the Advertising Association.

She joined Procter & Gamble, as a technologist, then moved to the sales and marketing department. She was then recruited by the Milk Marketing Board, and later joined Coca-Cola as a brand manager. By 1989, having successfully overseen the merger of the bottling interests of Coca-Cola UK and Schweppes, she was appointed commercial director. In 1993, at the age of 33 she became president of the UK and Ireland businesses of Coca-Cola.

Hughes was educated at Birkenhead High School. While at the school she represented the county at hockey and lacrosse. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Sheffield in 1980.

Penny Hughes CBE (born 1959) is a British businesswoman, and the former chair of Aston Martin.