Virgin Wines makes three leadership appointments

Virgin Wines, one of the UK’s largest direct-to-consumer online wine retailers, has announced three key senior management appointments to bolster its leadership team. Danny Cooper has been appointed chief information officer (CIO) having worked in IT roles for almost three decades. Initially holding Infrastructure and Architecture roles within JP Morgan and the BBC, Cooper was appointed director of Enterprise Technology at YOOX Net-A-Porter Group, where he worked for 14 years and scaled its IT systems through a period of significant growth and successfully integrated a number of acquisitions, before holding senior management roles with Made Up Ltd and Gousto. In his role at Virgin Wines, Cooper will be responsible for ensuring the group’s digital solutions provide the best possible user experience, while remaining structurally and commercially robust, as the company continues to evolve its digital offering. Meanwhile, Gareth Beaty has been appointed as head of Customer Growth. Beaty brings over 20 years’ experience in commercial roles from a number of blue-chip consumer-facing companies, with a career spanning Nectar, AccorHotels, News International, the RAC and ODEON. Beaty’s appointment as head of Customer Growth comes at a “critical” time for the company as it continues to prioritise “high-quality customer acquisition in an ever-more competitive pricing and promotional market”. Additionally, having worked within the group since 2009, Andy Potts has been appointed as the new trading director of Warehouse Wines. He held a number of roles across sales, customer acquisition and business development before being appointed general manager of the newly formed Gifts Business in 2014 where he established the company’s bespoke e-commerce gifting service, including the launch of the first wine advent calendar. In 2019, Potts was appointed business development director where he oversaw the creation and delivery of the group’s customer acquisition strategy and brand partnerships. In his new role, Potts will be responsible for driving growth at Warehouse Wines, the group’s newly launched value proposition, which has produced encouraging performances in FY24 to date. Cooper, Beaty and Potts will all be responsible for leading functions that will be critical to supporting Virgin Wines’ delivery of its next phase of growth, as the company continues to deliver “high-quality product and customer service with market-leading levels of customer acquisition and costs per recruit”.