Team

Joined the Partnership Board: September 2024.

Experience: Jason Tarry became the Partnership's seventh Chairman in September 2024. Prior to that, Jason worked for Tesco where he served as UK & Ireland CEO for six years until March 2024. Jason joined Tesco in October 1990 on the Finance Graduate Scheme and held a number of buying roles across grocery and general merchandise, before being appointed Group CEO of F&F Clothing in 2012, where he was responsible for fashion across UK, Ireland, Central Europe, Asia and franchise partnerships. In 2014, he joined the Executive Committee as Chief Commercial Officer, accountable for supply chain and procurement across the Tesco Group.

Joined the Partnership Board: April 2025

Length of time with the Partnership: 13 years

Experience: Andy joined the Partnership in August 2012, following 12 years at Ernst & Young where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant (now Fellow Chartered Accountant). During his time at Ernst & Young Andy worked across a number of sectors and roles working with large global clients across audit, assurance, M&A and accounting advisory projects. Andy spent the first six years of his Partnership career in a variety of senior finance roles within John Lewis, subsequently becoming Finance Director for John Lewis & Partners. Andy became the Partnership’s Commercial Finance Director in 2019 then Corporate Finance Director in 2021 working across John Lewis, Waitrose, Financial Services and Build to Rent to drive value, before moving to become the Group Finance Director in 2023, overseeing all aspects of the Partnership’s finance function. He was appointed as the Executive Director, Finance (Interim) in July 2024 and as Chief Financial Officer in April 2025.

Joined the Partnership Board: February 2021

Experience: Rita has worked with many of the world’s leading companies on their customer and brand strategies during her executive career, including as Vice Chairman and Strategy Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, as London CEO and Chairman at the global brand consultancy Interbrand and as co-founder of BrandCap. Rita was previously a Board member of ASOS for six years, and has held non-executive board roles with Nationwide Building Society, Dixons Retail, Ascential, Emap, Bupa and the research firm Populus Group. Non-profit Board experience has included WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) and the UK Sustainable Development Commission.

Other appointments: Rita is currently Chair at Simplyhealth, as well as a Trustee of the leading environmental think tank Green Alliance and Chair of the Board of Trustees at the leading international sustainability organisation Forum for the Futur

Head of Strategy & Strategic Planning (interim)

Joined the Partnership Board: January 2025

Length of time with the Partnership: 5 years 

Experience: Tom joined the Partnership in 2021 as a Strategy Manager. He has worked on strategy and strategic projects across the breadth of the Partnership’s retail and non-retail activities, with a particular interest in the Partnership’s model and Distinctive Character. He has also been involved in the Partnership’s democratic forums as an elected representative. Prior to becoming a Partner, Tom held roles at American Express and Strategy&, part of PwC.

Joined the Partnership Board: September 2023

Experience: Will has extensive experience across the retail industry, having held senior leadership roles spanning fashion, lifestyle, sports and home sectors. He most recently served as CEO of River Island and Chairman of Biscuiteers, before which he led the transformation and merger of Wiggle Chain Reaction Group as its CEO. Prior to joining Wiggle, he spent five years as CEO of The White Company, and held a thirteen-year tenure at New Look, during which he served in roles including Group Financial Director, Group Trading Director, COO and Group Managing Director, while also concurrently President of “Mim", a 300-store fashion chain operating across France and Belgium.

Other appointments: Will is Executive Chairman of Neptune, the premium British home design brand. He also acts as investor and adviser to a range of early-stage retail businesses.

Strategic Planning Lead

Joined the Partnership Board: January 2025

Length of time in the Partnership: 23 years

Experience: Joined the John Lewis Partnership in September 2002 as a John Lewis Retail Graduate Trainee. Cheryl is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and Chartered Institute of Managers with a decade’s experience leading in commercial finance and strategic change, working across JL and Waitrose; in buying and merchandising teams; new format development and shop investment; supply chain; and enterprise strategic planning.

Joined the Partnership Board: March 2024

Clare brings a wealth of experience as a highly experienced finance professional and has spent much of her career in retail. She was co-Chief Executive Officer for Camelot until January 2024, having joined as Chief Financial Officer in 2017 before being appointed to the board in 2019. Prior to that she was Group CFO at dunnhumby, having previously spent over 17 years at Tesco in a wide range of operational and financial roles, including CFO for Tesco.com and Group Audit Director. 

Other appointments: She is also a Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair at Fever-Tree, the listed drinks brand.

The Nominations Committee operates in accordance with the terms of reference. The Committee's responsibilities are to support the Chairman in ensuring that:

• There are strong succession plans in place for the Partnership Board
• There is necessary breadth of talent within the Partnership to provide the skills and expertise needed on the Partnership Board in the future
• There is a robust process for making appointments to the Partnership Board.

The Audit and Risk Committee operates in accordance with the terms of reference. The Committee is responsible to the Board for the oversight of:

• The integrity of the Partnership's Annual Report and Accounts, and other formal announcements relating to the Partnership's financial performance
• External audit activities
• Internal audit activities
• The Partnership's systems of risk management and internal control including an annual review of the effectiveness of their processes.

The Remuneration Committee operates in accordance with the terms of reference.

• The Remuneration Committee has oversight of the application of the pay policy, including Rule 61 and Rule 62, to executive remuneration for the Chairman and Senior Management, and fees for the Non-Executive Directors.
• The policy aims to attract, retain and motivate executive management of the quality required to run the Partnership successfully without paying more than is necessary and informed by market rate information.

The Ethics and Sustainability Committee operates in accordance with its Terms of Reference.  The purpose of the Ethics and Sustainability Committee is to assist the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities for setting Ethics & Sustainability (E&S) strategy in accordance with the Partnership's Purpose and Values and ensuring that the E&S strategy is embedded into the Partnership’s operations by reviewing and monitoring:

• the Partnership’s conduct with regard to its obligation, reputation and opportunity as a responsible and progressive corporate citizen;
• that E&S remains core to the Partnership, aligned to the Partnership’s Purpose and Values;
• the delivery of the Partnership’s E&S commitments, consistent with the strategy; and
• that external perspective is fully considered to ensure the Partnership’s approach on E&S remains relevant and stretching.