M&S Appoints Strong New Leadership Team

RNS Number : 3853E

Marks and Spencer Group PLC

10 March 2022

 

MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC 

M&S APPOINTS STRONG NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS IN TRANSFORMATION

Following the announcement that Steve Rowe is standing down as Chief Executive Officer at the company's preliminary results on 25 May, M&S is now moving to implement its planned succession process.

Stuart Machin will become Chief Executive and will take on responsibility for day-to-day leadership of the business and the Executive Committee. He will continue to have oversight of his current portfolio of responsibilities, which includes the leadership of our Food business, as well as Operations, Property, Store Development and Technology. He will also take on responsibility for HR and Corporate Communications and will join the PLC Board with effect from 25 May. 

Katie Bickerstaffe will become Co-Chief Executive with a particular focus on driving the global omnichannel, digital & data future for the business. She will retain her existing portfolio including responsibility for Clothing & Home, MS2, International and Financial Services. Katie will also re-join the PLC board with effect from 25 May where she was previously a non-executive director. 

Eoin Tonge becomes Chief Strategy & Finance Officer. In addition to his current responsibilities, he will play an enhanced role in leading the future development of the business. He will also take on oversight of Plan A and remains on the PLC Board.  

M&S is now embarked on the second phase of its transformation programme, "Shaping The Future." The Board's view is that under the current team, the business has made remarkable progress and that continuity of strategy and leadership is advantageous. Bringing together these three outstanding leaders will provide the stability, pace and bandwidth required to accelerate the pace of change.

Archie Norman, Chairman, commented:

"The appointments we are making today bring together a very strong leadership team to take the business into the next stage of its transformation. Both Stuart and Katie are outstanding high impact leaders with very strong track records and experience of leading businesses through transformative change. With Eoin, they make a very powerful leadership team able to span the full breadth of our businesses. Given the very strong recent progress we have made, keeping up the pace and momentum is critical. We are delighted to have brought together three exceptional individuals who, with the support of the executive committee, will provide vision, energy and pace for this next phase."

This announcement has been made in accordance with the requirements of 9.6.11 of the UK Listing Rules.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the UK version of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

NOTES:

Katie Bickerstaffe is currently a non-executive director of Barratt Developments PLC. In the last five years, Katie has also held directorships with SSE plc and Dixons Carphone plc.

The Company confirms that there is no further information required to be disclosed pursuant to paragraph 9.6.13 of the UK Listing Rules.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

Stuart Machin

Stuart joined M&S on 30 April 2018 as Managing Director of Food, with nearly 30 years in the food, fashion and home retail sector. In May 2021, Stuart's remit expanded as he was appointed joint Chief Operating Officer, which in addition to his role as Managing Director of M&S Food, took oversight responsibilities for Operations, Property, Store Development and IT. Stuart is also the Executive Lead for HR and a Director of Ocado Retail Limited.

Stuart has held senior operational and commercial roles in UK retailers Sainsbury's, Tesco and ASDA and spent 10 years in Australia working in Wesfarmers as COO and CEO of Coles and Target respectively. Stuart returned to the UK in 2017 and most recently held the position of CEO at Steinhoff UK for eight months, before leaving to join M&S.

Katie Bickerstaffe

Katie first served on the Board of M&S as a non-executive director from 2018, before joining the M&S leadership team as Chief Strategy and Transformation Director on 27 April 2020. In May 2021 her remit was expanded to become joint Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for Clothing & Home, International, and the Data & Services businesses.

Katie was previously Executive Chair of SSE Energy Services, where she led the separation from SSE plc and subsequent sale to OVO. Until April 2018, Katie was Chief Executive, UK and Ireland of Dixons Carphone plc, where she led the transformation of Dixons' retail estate, e-comm and the launch of the 'knowhow' services business. She joined Dixons in 2008 and was appointed to its Board in 2012. Prior to this she worked with many well-known food retail and consumer companies including, Kwik Save, PepsiCo, Unilever, Dyson, and Somerfield. 

Katie is a non-executive director of the England and Wales Cricket Board and joined Barratt Developments plc as a non-executive director in March 2021.

Eoin Tonge

Eoin joined M&S in June 2020 as Chief Financial Officer, bringing and in-depth knowledge of food, strategy and operations to the leadership team. In May 2021 his remit was expanded to include Strategy and Transformation Planning as part of his oversight responsibilities. As CFO, Eoin is also a Director of Ocado Retail Limited. 

He was previously CFO of Greencore Group PLC, where he oversaw key strategic changes. Prior to this, he was the MD of the Grocery Business for two years and was previously the Chief Strategy Officer from 2009-2014. His first role at Greencore was as Group Capital Markets Director, where he oversaw the treasury and investor relations functions. From 1994-2006 Eoin worked at Goldman Sachs in a variety of roles across finance, treasury and capital markets in London, Hong Kong and New York.

 

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