Troubled Institute of Directors to pay next boss almost half salary of previous leader

The next director-general of the Institute of Directors will be paid barely half as much as their controversial predecessor Stephen Martin as the business group draws a line under a turbulent period, its new chairman has said.

Charlotte Valeur, who succeeded Lady Barbara Judge last year when she was forced out over allegations of racism and bullying, has engaged headhunters Odgers Berndtson to conduct the hunt for a new director-general.

In an email to members Valeur said that “to achieve the best value for you as a member... we have benchmarked a maximum salary level of £250,000”.

In 2017, Martin, who secretly recorded Lady Judge’s comments in the whistle-blowing row that erupted a year ago, was paid £452,000.

Valeur wrote to members: “The whole board of the Institute places great value on being as transparent as possible, particularly with our most important stakeholders, our members.”

Her job is to arrest a decline in membership which dropped to 32,024 in 2017 after more than a decade of falls.