Halfords appoints Sarah Haywood as chief information officer

Halfords has appointed Sarah Haywood as chief information officer, bringing more than two decades of experience in global technology leadership across major consumer brands.

Haywood has held senior IT and digital transformation roles at Mondelēz International, Kraft Foods, Cadbury Schweppes and Carlsberg Group, where she led large-scale technology integration and business systems modernisation projects across Europe and emerging markets.

She has extensive experience in enterprise resource planning (ERP), data and analytics strategy, and customer-facing digital transformation.

At Halfords, she will oversee the company’s technology strategy and digital development, supporting the group’s focus on improving customer experience and operational efficiency.

Halfords chief executive Henry Birch said: “We’re delighted to welcome Sarah to Halfords. Her deep experience in transforming technology capabilities across complex global organisations will be invaluable as we continue to develop our systems to deliver a better experience for our customers and colleagues, and to prepare the business for future growth.”

In a Linkedin post, Haywood added: “After a well earned break with my family I am delighted to share that I will be joining the Executive team at Halfords as their CIO.Halfords is a fantastic business with a unique position in the UK market providing retail and services across motoring, cycling and leisure. Over the coming years digital transformation will play a key role in shaping the future of the business and I am very excited about being part of that journey.”