Apart from Argos and Tesco, August was a predictably low-key month in the retail jobs market as attention turned to school holidays and summer vacations.

The news arrived that Dave Lewis was to be parachuted into the Tesco hot seat a month early.

Top people moves in August

1. American Golf drafted in restructuring expert Alan Fort as its interim chief executive.

2. Former Co-op chief information officer Andy Haywood assumed the same role at home shopping retailer N Brown.

3. Helen Cowing, Fat Face’s chief financial officer, left the fashion retailer following an aborted IPO.

The most active retailer was Home Retail Group which has spent much of 2014 shuffling its executive pack under the new leadership of American, John Walden.

The latest two appointments aim to support Home Retail Group’s concerted effort to grow its own brand sales. Alyson Lockley has joined from healthcare supplier Johnson & Johnson as head of Argos own brand, a move that reflects Home Retail Group’s openness to employing talent from outside of retail (the captures last year of EMI Music executives Neil Tinegate and Bertand Bodson are other good examples). Meanwhile, Alexei Cowan has been lured from Next, where she was a senior designer, to assume the role of head of trend.

One of Lockley’s first tasks will be to oversee the launch of Argos’s new furniture and homewares brand, Heart of House, whose August launch was backed by a major advertising campaign. Cowan, for her part, is charged with overseeing product and trend development across the whole group.

The new hires are the latest in a series of changes at the top of Home Retail Group which began with the appointment of Walden to the position of chief executive in January and continued in April when Steve Carson added the role of retail and customer operations director to his existing role as retail operations director.

Dave Lewis parachuted in

Just as August threatened to pass without incident in the volatile grocery jobs market, the news arrived that Dave Lewis was to be parachuted into the Tesco hot seat a month early following a warning that the retailer’s interim profits would drop by a third to £2.5bn.

Lewis, who cancelled a family holiday to bring forward his start date, has a huge job on his hands, not just operationally, but in persuading disgruntled employees to pull in the same direction. Tesco has suffered something of a talent exodus during Philip Clarke’s reign and morale on the shop floor, particularly among store managers, is reported to be low.

Lewis’s priority should be to add trusted lieutenants to his leadership team and win the support of those working at the coal-face of the business.

NameCompany joiningJob role
Kris NayakThe Co-operative Group Head of location and portfolio planning, Co-operative Estates team
Andy HaywoodN BrownChief information officer
Alan FortAmerican GolfInterim chief executive
Helen Cowing  
David CottageBarbourHead of global e-commerce
Alexei CowanHome Retail GroupHead of trend
Alyson LockleyHome Retail GroupArgos head of own brand
Steve MurrayDr Martens Chief executive
Henrik HolmarkDr Martens Chief financial officer
Stuart LorimerAG BarrFD
Alex ShortSpirits GroupFD
  • For a full list of last month’s job moves see the table on the right.

The Anthony Gregg Partnership

Tony Gregg is chief executive of the Antony Gregg Partnership

Tony Gregg is chief executive of the Anthony Gregg Partnership

Founded in 2003 and located in Henley-in-Arden and London, The Anthony Gregg Partnership specialises in the consumer search market space.

You can call Tony Gregg on 01564 796830 or email him at tony@anthonygregg.com.