Press releases

Helen Weir appointed Group Finance Director

Friday 17 February 2012

The John Lewis Partnership announces today that Helen Weir has been appointed as Group Finance Director, taking over from Marisa Cassoni whose plan to retire was announced in September 2011. Helen will join the Partnership on 1 April, and will formally assume the Finance Director role from 1 June 2012, following a full handover and induction period alongside Marisa.

Helen was most recently the Chief Executive of the Retail Division of Lloyds Banking Group (2008-2011) and before that was the Group Finance Director. Helen has considerable retail sector experience as Finance Director of B&Q between 1995-2000 and then a further four years as Group Finance Director of Kingfisher plc. She has previously held a number of non-executive directorships, including Royal Mail Holdings and the City of London Investment Trust and is currently a non-executive director of SAB Miller.

Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: 'I'm delighted to welcome Helen to the Partnership as our Group Finance Director. Helen brings a wealth of both finance and retail experience and expertise and will be a great successor to Marisa, who has made an enormous contribution to the Partnership over the last six years.'

Helen Weir said: 'I am absolutely delighted to be joining the Partnership at this stage in its development. It is a superb business with great brands and fantastic people.'

Notes to editors

The John Lewis Partnership - The John Lewis Partnership operates 35 John Lewis shops across the UK (29 department stores and six John Lewis at home), johnlewis.com and 274 Waitrose supermarkets. The business has annual gross sales of over £8.2bn. It is the UK's largest example of worker co-ownership where all 76,500 staff are Partners in the business.

Helen Weir - Helen was, until recently, Group Executive Director - Retail at Lloyds Banking Group plc. She originally joined Lloyds as Group Finance Director in 2004. From 2000 until 2004, she was Group Finance Director of Kingfisher plc, and before that Finance Director of B&Q. She spent her early career at Unilever and McKinsey & Co. Helen joined the SAB Miller Board as a Non-Exec Director in 2011 and was previously a Non-Exec Director of Royal Mail Holdings. She is a member of the Said Business School Advisory Council, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and was awarded a CBE for services to Finance in 2008.

Enquiries

For further information, please contact:

John Lewis Partnership
Andrew Moys
Director of Communications
Telephone: 020 7592 6292

Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Simon Rigby
Telephone: 020 7638 9571