In a pivotal moment in the retail industry, Marks & Spencer has placed Laura Wade-Gery, the head of its online operation, in charge of its UK high-street stores.
Wade-Gery, who supervised a £100-million revamp of the M&S website, will take charge of the company’s 800 UK stores as part of a reorganisation of the board. She is the first woman to be at the pinnacle of M&S’s retail business.
The restructuring of the board was partially necessitated by the departure of Jan Heere, the international director, who was hired from Zara-owner Inditex in 2011. Heere will return to a role in Russia.
The reshuffle comes just before the company’s annual meeting in London next week. Marc Bolland, CEO of M&S, stated, "Over the last three years, we have worked hard to transform M&S into an international, multichannel retailer that is fit for the future of retail. We now have the right infrastructure in place to take our business forward, and as we enter the next phase of our plan, we need to make sure our team structures and internal processes allow us to move with pace, simplicity and speed."
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine by Peter Donnelly
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