John Lewis Partnership appoints Ofcom chief executive as new chairman
The John Lewis Partnership has appointed Ofcom chief executive Sharon White to succeed Sir Charlie Mayfield as its chairman.
She will take up her new position when Mayfield steps down in early 2020.
White has headed up the communications services regulator since March 2015. Prior to that, she was Second Permanent Secretary at the Treasury and held board level positions at the Ministry of Justice and the Department for International Development. She has also worked as an adviser at the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit and in Washington DC as a senior economist at the World Bank
Mayfield said he believes that White has the drive, vision and leadership qualities to steer the Partnership through its next phase.
He added: “I readily recognise that Sharon is not the conventional retail choice. But these are not conventional retail times, nor is the Partnership a conventional company. Sharon is an inspirational leader with the personal and professional skills to ensure the Partnership continues to innovate and change while at the same time retaining and strengthening our distinctive character and democratic vitality.”
White is also a non-executive board member of Barratt Developments and a Trustee of Sadler’s Wells Trust. She is a trained economist and studied at Cambridge University and University College London.
Her salary in her new role will be £990,000.
White said: “I am a passionate believer in the Partnership: Partners working together for each other’s wellbeing with the confidence to invest for the long-term and a focus on delivering for our customers in a rapidly changing retail environment. John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners are not merely British retail icons, but also a model of a better way to do business.”
