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Wilko’s new CEO Mark Jackson has announced a new senior leadership team which forms part of its plan to stabilise the business and “accelerate” its turnaround.
The group has appointed Dave Murphy, currently group finance director, as its new CFO replacing Karen Mackay, who has resigned from the company and will be leaving in March, following a handover period.
In addition, it has revealed retail director Amanda JonesRetail will take on the new role of chief operating officer with responsibility for stores, logistics, and central operations. Deborah Rabey has also joined as interim chief customer officer to lead the commercial, digital and marketing teams.
Wilko said Rabey is a “very accomplished” commercial director with a wealth of experience across supply chains, global sourcing and marketing following 14 years at director level with Tesco.
Finally, Anne-Marie Haydock has been promoted to HR director to replace Kate Price who is leaving the business in April, following a handover period.
Commenting, Jackson said: “We’ve already begun our turnaround programme to drive Wilko forward. As part of this we quickly identified significant changes to the wilko operating model to enable us to stabilise the business, and then thrive again.
“To deliver our strategic priorities we must remain focused, and our leadership structure needs to be fully aligned to achieve this. Having now reviewed the current structure, we need to remove both the duplication of functions and operating costs. As part of this review, we’ve had to take some necessary and difficult decisions as we create a new operating structure that helps stabilise the business, from which we can then drive the business forward.”
He added: “Having now announced the new top leadership functions, we’ve already begun conversations with the senior management team and wider organisation to implement the new structure. This includes some changes to our management structure at both our stores and head office. Right now, we’re unable to confirm the scale of change as conversations are ongoing but it will mean a number of roles will be made redundant to support the wider plan.
“We’re fully supporting affected individuals as a result of these changes. Such change will be unsettling to our team members and the wider business, and we’re acting swiftly to put in place the new organisational structure.”
Wilko is the UK’s 23rd biggest retailer, employing 16,000 team members and operates 400 stores across the UK.
