Changes to Waitrose & Partners and John Lewis & Partners Management Boards

Thursday 17 January 2019

Appointment to the Waitrose & Partners Management Board

Waitrose & Partners announces the appointment of Ross Avery as Finance Director.  

Currently Waitrose & Partners Transformation Director, Ross (41) has worked for the John Lewis Partnership since 2001.  He started as a Graduate Trainee and progressed to a number of Waitrose positions. Ross worked in branches for the first seven years of his career; this was followed by several Retail leadership roles and in 2013 he was appointed Head of Strategy.  He then spent three years as eCommerce Director before being appointed into his current Transformation role in March 2018.

Ross will become Finance Director on 28 January 2019 and will join the Waitrose Management Board. Reflecting his combined responsibility for finance and for the delivery of the Waitrose & Partners business plan, Ross will report to Rob Collins, Waitrose & Partners MD and to Patrick Lewis, Group Finance Director for the John Lewis Partnership.

Commenting on the appointment Rob Collins, Waitrose & Partners MD, said: 'Ross is a talented, high calibre leader with the wide experience and deep understanding of our business that will make him a terrific FD.'

Changes to the John Lewis & Partners Management Board

John Lewis & Partners announces that, after 43 years in the business, Dino Rocos, Partner & Operations Director, will retire at the end of May 2019. From the end of January until he retires, Dino will report directly to Patrick Lewis, Group Finance Director for the John Lewis Partnership, and will lead the company’s ongoing work to ensure a future supply chain that will be efficient, agile and resilient to respond to the evolving retail market.

Bérangère Michel, Partner & Finance Director, has been appointed Operations Director and will take up her new role at the end of January, assuming responsibility for the end-to-end Supply Chain and the John Lewis & Partners shop estate. As a result of Bérangère’s appointment, a recruitment process is underway for the role of Finance Director, John Lewis & Partners. The role will be covered in the interim by Andy Mounsey, currently Head of Finance.

Paula Nickolds, Partner & Managing Director, said: 'I can't overemphasise the scale of the contribution Dino has made to John Lewis - he has transformed every element of our supply chain to create the distribution network we enjoy today. I am extremely grateful to him for his support and commitment to the Partnership. Bérangère and Andy both bring a wealth of experience to their new roles and I wish them the very best of luck.'


Notes to editors

The John Lewis Partnership johnlewispartnership.co.uk owns and operates two of Britain's best-loved retail brands - John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners. Started as a radical idea nearly a century ago, the Partnership is now the largest employee-owned business in the UK, with 83,000 employees who are all Partners in the business and share in its profits. The Partnership operates on strong democratic principles, which means that every Partner has a say in how the organisation is run. The business has annual gross sales of over £11.5bn, 400 shops and a leading online business. Its commercial strategy is focused on differentiation rather than scale, through investment in innovation and Partner led service.

Waitrose & Partners has 349 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 65 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations. It combines the convenience of a supermarket with the expertise and service of a specialist shop - dedicated to offering quality food that has been responsibly sourced, combined with high standards of customer service. Waitrose & Partners exports products to more than 50 countries worldwide and has nine shops which operate under licence in the Middle East. The retailer's omnichannel business includes the online grocery service, Waitrose.com, as well as specialist online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitroseflorist.com for plants and flowers. 

John Lewis & Partners
 operates 51 John Lewis & Partners shops across the UK (37 department stores, 12 John Lewis at home and shops at St Pancras International and Heathrow Terminal 2) as well as johnlewis.com. The retailer stocks around 350,000 separate lines in its department stores and on  johnlewis.com across fashion, home and technology. This year John Lewis & Partners won, 'Best Multichannel Retailer 2018', 'Best Clothing Retailer 2018', and 'Best Furniture Retailer 2018' at the GlobalData Retail Customer Satisfaction Awards 2018. John Lewis Finance offers a range of comprehensive financial services products - including Insurance, Foreign Currency, International Payments and the Partnership Card - delivering the values of expertise, trust and customer service expected from the John Lewis brand johnlewisfinance.com


Enquiries

For further information, please contact:

James Armstrong,
Corporate Communications Manager,
email: james.armstrong@waitrose.co.uk

Emily Dimmock,
Senior Communications Manager,
email: emily.dimmock@johlewis.co.uk