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Katie Bickerstaffe is set to retire from her role as co-CEO at M&S to pursue her board career.The company said she would step down after its AGM in July 2024.
Bickerstaffe served as a non-executive director and co-COO of M&S prior to being appointed co-CEO in March 2022.
According to M&S, having helped see through leadership changes, the strengthening of the management team and a “marked improvement” in the group’s performance, she will move on to take other board roles in line with an original transition plan.
She had reportedly “always been clear that once this transition was complete, she would want to develop her board career” alongside the positions she already holds at Barratt Developments and the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Bickerstaffe joined M&S in 2018 as a non-executive director and moved into an executive role in 2020, becoming co-COO alongside Stuart Machin in 2021.
In May 2022, Machin took over as CEO and Bickerstaffe became co-CEO. Her particular focus has been on Data, Digital and Technology, and Rachel Higham will be joining M&S from WPP in the new financial year to take over this function.
Machin said: “I’m very grateful to Katie for her support in seeing M&S through this important period in the reshaping of the business. We now have a much stronger business, and she will move on with our very best wishes.”
Bickerstaffe added: “I took on the co-CEO role to support Stuart as he succeeded to CEO and because of my love for the brand and my determination to see the transformation of M&S through to the next stage. We have built a strong team, made great progress, and it is now right that the business and function heads report directly to Stuart. I will leave with great memories and a strong sense of achievement.”
