Asda appoints new leaders to tech team amid Walmart separation

Asda has announced the appointment of Adrian Berry and Rob Barnes to its technology team to oversee the development of its new technology strategy and separation from Walmart. 

Berry will join early in 2024 as the retailer’s new chief technology officer, where he will be responsible for all core technology teams including service delivery, infrastructure, application engineering, platform teams and enterprise technology services. 

He will bring “significant” industry experience, having most recently been the CIO of Aston Barclay Vehicle Remarketing, and previously UK CIO and CTO of Lowell Credit Management. 

Meanwhile, Barnes, who is currently the chief technology officer of M&S, will join Asda in his new role as delivery director early next year. He will be responsible for the design, build and delivery of all colleague and customer-facing technology and will also act as deputy chief information officer. 

Before joining M&S, Barnes was managing director of Accenture’s retail tech advisory business, where he managed technology delivery for clients Dyson, Clarks, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Best Buy. 

Carl Dawson, chief information officer of Asda, said: “We are delighted to welcome Rob and Adrian to the Asda technology team. With their combined experience, I am confident that we will now have the necessary expertise and experience to build best in class retail technology systems as we continue our separation journey from Walmart.”