European investment manager Avoca Capital Holdings has appointed Lord James Blyth to the board as a non-executive director.

Before joining Avoca, Lord Blyth was chairman of Diageo, a position he held for eight years to June 2008. Prior to this he was chief executive and then chairman of The Boots Company.

Other leadership roles he has held include chief executive of the Plessey Company and head of defence sales at the UK Ministry of Defence.

Lord Blyth has also worked in a significant number of non-executive positions with public and private companies in the US and UK over the last 30 years; he remains a non-executive director of Anixter and a senior advisor to investment bank Greenhill.