Coats Group plc announced that Hongyan Echo Lu ('Echo') will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director, effective 1 December 2017.  In addition, she will join the Remuneration Committee and the Nomination Committee. Echo has twenty years of global HR, operations and general management experience.  She spent ten years at Tesco plc in a variety of senior leadership roles, including Asia HR Director, Chief Operations Officer, China and Property Director, UK/Ireland.  Most recently, she was the Managing Director of Homebase Ltd. as part of Home Retail Group plc. Echo has previously been a Non-Executive Director of Dobbies Garden Centres and also served as a Steering Committee Member of the Trestle Group Foundation, a non-profit organisation which supports women-led businesses in emerging economies.