Marks & Spencer has poached one of Sainsbury’s Argos most senior executives to become stores director, Retail Week can reveal.
Sainsbury’s Argos director of retail Helen Milford will join Marks & Spencer in the role reporting to retail, operations and property director Sacha Berendji.
An internal M&S announcement, seen by Retail Week, said: “Helen will join us as director of stores at the end of May and will help us to deliver a faster, more commercial retail business with efficient, digitally enabled operations and an unwavering focus on trading and execution. Helen will lead our 70,000 store-based colleagues and ensure their voice really is at the heart of our business. She has a fantastic track record, as well as taking a leading role in diversity and inclusion.”
Before joining Argos in 2016, Milford had worked for Asda for more than a decade in a variety of roles. Former Asda luminaries, such as chair Archie Norman and food managing director Stuart Machin, are playing central roles in the attempt to turn around M&S.
Machin said: “I am delighted Helen has been appointed. I worked with her for a few years at Asda. She’s known for her sleeves-rolled-up leadership and she’s a brilliant operator. We are in the middle of a multi-year transformation and Helen will play a critical role in leading our stores.”
M&S also revealed that Steve Kemp has been appointed to the newly created role of head of digital retail “to ensure our stores and retail operations are fully digitally enabled; from having efficient and easy to use click-and-collect operations to ensuring dotcom and stores ‘talk to each other’ to improve the customer shopping experience”. He moves from the food division where he led hospitality.
Milford will be supported by heads of division: Laura Mitchell (North); Ken Sculley (Ireland); Alex Hanson (Central), who recently joined from Arcadia; and Mark Henry (South), who joined from Lidl. They will ”put real energy behind our mission to be the best retail operator with the most engaged and empowered colleagues in UK retail”, M&S said.
The changes are the latest people moves at M&S. Last November, the retailer appointed Tesco’s F&F fashion division chief executive Richard Price as managing director of its underperforming apparel arm, replacing Jill McDonald who was ousted earlier in the year.
The previous month, Machin strengthened his food team with the appointment of four senior executives, including Tesco strategy director Pav Anand who was named head of food strategy.
Milford will take an enhanced role originally expected to be taken up by Morrisons director David Lepley, who was to join as stores director and be the ‘voice of the stores’. However, he opted to stay at Morrisons where he has since been promoted to group retail director.
Retail search specialist Tony Gregg of Anthony Gregg Partnership, who knows Milford, said: “She’s a great retail operator, very adaptable and good on both the shop floor and in the boardroom.”
Earlier this month, M&S reported its first group like-for-like sales advance in three years, boosted by the performance of its food division.
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