[ad_1]
The number of women hired as UK retail chief executives hit a record high last year.
According to management consultancy Korn Ferry, 13 women leaders will be hired into top retail positions in the UK in 2022, representing 31% of the 42 appointments.
Retail Gazette spotlights new hires for female CEOs.
Lissa McGowan, CEO of Pet At Home
Pets at Home has hired Lyssa McGowan, Chief Consumer Officer of Sky, as its new CEO. She took over from Peter Pritchard in June.
McGowan, who served on the board of directors until Morrisons was sold to CD&R in 2021, has extensive experience managing products, services and subscription-driven businesses. He also has expertise in data and digital transformation.
In November, after her first six months at the helm, she said, “Pets at Home is well positioned to take advantage of attractive growth opportunities in our structurally growing pet care market. More confident: embedded culture and professionals, passionate colleagues and partners.
McGowan wants to help Pets at Home be more customer-focused.
She revealed plans to create a new “Consumer Capabilities” division that will combine the company’s digital, marketing and customer value proposition teams, led by a newly created Chief Consumer Officer role.
Maddie Smith, Managing Director, The Body Shop UK and Ireland
Last January, The Body Shop hired Maddie Smith, head of Estée Lauder’s US retail division, to lead its UK operations.
Smith previously served as Vice President of North America for Estée Lauder, which owns brands such as Clinique, Bobbi Brown and Mac. He is also the owner of L’Occitane, Superdrug, AS Watson, Boots.
She is currently helping The Body Shop with a makeover. This includes upgrading and improving the product range and introducing new store formats.
Helen Connolly, CEO of New Look
In June, New Look promoted Helen Connolly to CEO after two years as chief operating officer (CCO), succeeding Nigel Oddy.
Prior to New Look, Connolly was CEO of Bonmarché for four years.
She has worked for some of the UK’s biggest fashion retailers, including as director of George’s buying, womenswear and lingerie at Asda and head of buying at Dorothy Perkins.
During her time as CCO, Helen worked to improve both product and efficiency across New Look’s purchasing and merchandising, and to create and facilitate partnership and concession opportunities.
Hannah Gibson, Chief Executive Officer of Ocado Retail
In September, Ocado hired Hannah Gibson from the technology division as chief product officer (CPO) to lead the grocery division.
Succeeding Mel Smith, Gibson spent 10 years at Ocado, where he helped shape the strategy for the proprietary Ocado Smart Platform.
Prior to that, he was Senior Policy Advisor at 10 Downing Street and Business Development Manager at Waitrose.
Stuart Machin, CEO of Ocado Retail’s joint venture partner Marks & Spencer, said of Gibson’s appointment that he “combines a clear passion for products and customers with an exceptional working knowledge of Ocado’s unique technology.” said.
“This experience makes her an ideal candidate to unlock the great potential remaining in our joint venture and take our partnership to the next stage of growth.”
Roisin Currie, CEO of Greggs
Greggs has announced the promotion of retail and real estate director Roysin Curry to CEO, succeeding longtime leader Roger Whiteside.
Curry, who took over the helm in May, has been with Greggs since 2010.
Prior to joining Greggs, he spent 20 years at Asda, holding positions such as Retail People Director and Distribution People Director.
Currie also chairs the Employers Forum for Reducing Recidivism.
Shirine Khoury-Haq, CEO of The Co-op
The Co-op hired its first female CEO, Shirine Khoury-Haq, in August.
She took over the role on an interim basis earlier this year, taking over permanently from Steve Murrells.
Khoury-Haq first joined the Group in the summer of 2019 as Chief Financial Officer and previously spent five years as COO at Lloyd’s in London.
He also worked early in his career at companies such as IBM and McDonald’s, and was a non-executive director of the Post Office.
Leanne Rothwell, CEO, NotOnTheHighStreet.com
NotOnTheHighStreet.com promoted Chief Commercial Officer Leanne Rothwell to the top position last September, replacing Claire Davenport.
Rothwell has been with the gift retailer for 10 years as Head of Account Management in 2012.
During her tenure, she helped grow the number of marketplace sellers from 1,000 to 5,000.
Rothwell made some tough decisions during his months in the top spot, including cutting some jobs.
Earlier this month, she revealed that “many people” were leaving the business as it restructured.
Jan Marchant, Managing Director, Apparel and Home, Tesco
Tesco promoted Jan Marchant, chief executive of its F&F clothing division, to managing director of the home and clothing division across grocery stores last October.
A merchant who has been leading F&F clothing since July 2020, grocery storeApparel Arm as Buying Director in 2007.
He became Design Director in 2014 and Creative and Digital Director in 2017.
Sarah Boyd, Sephora UK Managing Director
Sephora appointed Sarah Boyd as managing director of its UK operations in December, just two months after the LVMH-owned beauty giant re-entered the UK market with the launch of its website.
Boyd joined Sephora in 2018 and has served as General Manager for Southeast Asia and Oceania, as well as Vice President and Head of Markets and New Business for Southeast Asia Pacific.
Based in Singapore, she covered 16 countries.
But Boyd, a beauty industry expert who previously worked for L’Oréal and Bourgeois, is happy to be back in the UK.
When she was offered her new role, she wrote on LinkedIn,
“Working with the Feelunique team, we are ready to continue our journey to bring the magic of Sephora to the UK.”
It’s been a busy few months since Sephora plans to open a flagship store in London’s Westfield this spring.
Hush CEO Sarah Miles
Sarah Miles, former CEO of FeelUnique, was appointed boss of women’s clothing retailer Hush late last year.
Miles, who took over at Hush earlier this month, has worked in retail for 25 years, including five years at Amazon.
Before joining beauty retailer FeelUnique in 2019, she headed home and garden and fashion and private label at the online giant, where she helped oversee its sale to Sephora.
Miles said he has “long admired” Hush for its excellent customer connections and truly differentiated product offerings.
Hush Chairman Suzanne Given said:Sarah has a successful track record of being one of the world’s leading consumer facing businesses and I have no doubt that Hush will continue to thrive under her leadership.
“Sara brings extensive experience driving strategic growth for some of the best retailers, as well as a broad international perspective and a deep passion for sustainability and purpose-driven brands.”
Alison Hands, CEO of Lincolnshire Co-op
Alison Hands, Managing Director of Wilko, was hired by the Lincolnshire Co-op to succeed Ursula Lidbetter as CEO.
Hands, who officially took office in April this year, has decades of retail experience.
She has been with Wilko since 2018, progressing from Commercial Execution Director to Trading Director and MD. She previously worked at M&S, The Body Shop and Boots.
Mr Hands said:
“We are excited to take on the responsibility of leading society through the next phase of its development as we collectively address the challenges of our current external environment.”
Alison Loehnis, Interim CEO of Yoox Net-a-Porter
Net-a-Porter veteran Alison Loehnis took over the interim lead of the Yoox-Net-a-Porter (YNAP) group in October.
Former president of Net-a-Porter, Mr Porter & The Outnet, Loehnis spent over 15 years at the online fashion giant.
As a pioneer, he pioneered the introduction of a wider range of product categories and expansion into new markets across the Net-a-Porter business.
Loehnis will lead the business until the sale of its majority stake in the business to Farfetch by owner YNAP Richemont is completed at the end of the year.
At that point, an external CEO will be appointed.
A director of athleisure giant Lululemon, Ronis began his advertising career at Saatchi & Saatchi before holding positions at LVMH, Hachette Filipacchi and The Walt Disney Company.
Karen Bird, Interim CEO of McCall
Karen Bird was hired by Morrisons on an interim basis to lead the integration of McColl’s, a newly acquired convenience store group acquired last May.
However, she plans to quit after a short delivery period at the grocery store.
Bird was previously McColl’s chief operating officer, but she ran the group on an interim basis when former CEO Jonathan Miller left the company last March.
Before joining McColl’s in 2016, Bird He spent more than 20 years at Tesco, a major 4 grocery store, in both HR and operations positions.
Click here to sign up for Retail Gazette’s free daily email newsletter.
[ad_2]
Source link
