Former M&S CIO joins Asda

Asda has confirmed that Marks and Spencer’s chief information officer (CIO) Carl Dawson will join its team, also as CIO.

Dawson has spent the last six years at M&S delivering “technology modernisation and digital transformation programmes”.

The appointment comes after former CIO Phil Tenney left the business in December to take on a new role. 

In the interim, Anna Barsby joined Asda on a fixed term basis to lead Asda’s technology function. 

With the permanent appointment of Dawson to the business, Barsby will continue to support the delivery of Asda’s broader separation work on a fixed term basis. Dawson will report to Mark Simpson – Asda’s chief supply chain officer.

Earlier this month, Asda also announced that its CEO Roger Burnley would step away from the business next year, once the supermarket has fully transitioned to new ownership and his long-term successor is in place.

Last year, the grocery chain was bought by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital, and was previously owned by Walmart. 

Anthony Hemmerdinger, COO at Asda, said: “We are delighted to welcome Carl to Asda as chief information officer. Carl has strong retail and digital experience having previously worked at Tesco, Shop Direct and Thomas Cook and this experience and expertise will be invaluable to us as we navigate our separation from our Walmart systems.”

“Anna has done a fantastic job in steering us through the early days of this critical project and we are grateful for her continued efforts on our future business planning as well as support in welcoming Carl.”