Paula Nickolds to leave Sainsbury’s to become CEO of The White Company

Sainsbury’s has revealed its General Merchandise Commercial director, Paula Nickolds, is set to leave the business to become CEO of The White Company.

Over the past three years, Sainsbury’s said Nickolds has led much progress across its ‘Brands that Deliver’ strategy, making Argos, Habitat and Tu “considerably stronger” and more competitive than pre-pandemic and she leaves a strong team in place.

The news comes as the supermarket giant announced a new, more focussed structure for its “Operating Board with a “significantly reduced number of Operating Board directors”, as the group looks ahead to the next phase of its strategy.

From the beginning of February, Graham Biggart, chief transformation officer, will take on commercial responsibility for General Merchandise and Clothing across Sainsbury’s and Argos.

Combined with his existing accountabilities, Biggart will become chief transformation and General Merchandise Commercial officer.

In addition, Matt Leeser, currently Business Unit Director – Seasonal, Toys and Electricals, will step into an expanded role to become General Merchandise Commercial director, reporting into Biggart.

Rhian Bartlett, currently on the Operating Board as Food Commercial director, will also become Chief Food Commercial officer, recognising the continued acceleration of our Food First strategy.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s confirmed it has completed its strategic review of its Financial Services division which will see its financial services products to be provided by dedicated financial services providers through a distributed model.

Jim Brown, CEO of Sainsbury’s Bank, has also decided to retire. He joined the business in 2019. Sainsbury’s said Robert Mulhall has been appointed as his successor. Mulhall is an experienced retail banking leader with a “strong track record of delivering successful transformation”. Until 2022 he was the CEO of Allied Irish Bank’s (AIB) UK division, having previously led AIB’s Irish retail banking division.

Simon Roberts, chief executive of J Sainsbury plc, said: “As we look ahead to the next phase of our strategy, I’m pleased to confirm this new structure for our Operating Board, which will help us become even more focused and further accelerate our transformation and performance.

“I would like to thank Jim, Paula and Tim, who have each made an outstanding contribution to the success of Sainsbury’s and we wish them all the very best for the future. I look forward to sharing more on the next phase of our plan at our forthcoming Strategy Update, building on all we’ve done to put food back at the heart of Sainsbury’s.

“It’s business as usual for now at Sainsbury’s Bank and there will be no immediate changes to products and services as a result of today’s announcement. We will of course communicate directly to customers well in advance of any changes to their products and services.”