AF Blakemore appoints new chief commercial officer

AF Blakemore has appointed CJ Antal-Smith as its new chief commercial officer.

With extensive experience in food and convenience retail, she has joined the business from Poundland and Dealz where she has been leading the commercial, marketing and digital functions through a successful sale process..

Prior to this, Antal-Smith held senior commercial roles at Co-op, Halfords, Nando’s and Asda.

In her new role, she will be tasked with accelerating AF Blakemore’s customer led strategy, leading the commercial and marketing teams to strengthen relationships with shoppers, retailers, suppliers and stakeholders.

Carol Welch, chief executive at AF Blakemore, said: “CJ’s track record in commercial leadership, as well as her deep understanding of the customer in the convenience retail space makes her a powerful addition to our
business.

“By bringing the marketing and commercial teams together under her leadership we will strengthen our customer-led strategy, as well as building stronger partnerships across shoppers, retailers, suppliers and other stakeholders, resulting in a further acceleration in our growth.”

Antal-Smith added: “It’s a very exciting time to be joining AF Blakemore as it embeds its exciting customer
led strategy across the business, with new retail partnerships opening up new routes to market.”

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