Asda appoints new chief customer officer
Asda has appointed Meg Farren as its chief customer officer.
Due to join the business in October, Farren has been working with KFC as chief marketing officer for the UK and Ireland for the last five years. Prior to that, she held various leadership roles in insight, innovation and communications in the company. She began her career at JP Morgan Chase, then spent five years in strategy consulting across various retail and FMCG sectors before working in sales, category management and brand marketing roles at Gu Puds.
In her new position, she will lead the development and strategy of Asda’s total customer proposition. This will involve leading a team of over 250 staff members who are based in Leeds and Lutterworth.
Roger Burnley, chief executive of Asda said: “I am delighted to welcome Meg to the Asda leadership team as chief customer officer – where she will play a pivotal role in driving our customer strategy forward. Meg brings a wealth of experience to this role from her time at KFC – and her combination of creative instinct and experience, customer centric approach and track record in leading high performing teams will be a great addition to Asda as we take the next exciting step forward on our journey.”
Farren will replace Anna-Maree Shaw who returned to her native Australia in January 2021. Preyash Thakrar, Asda’s chief strategy officer has provided interim leadership support to the Asda customer team over the past seven months and will continue to do so until Farren takes up her role.
Burnley added: “I am also very grateful for all Preyash has delivered over the last year – stepping across to support the customer team as well as his role as chief strategy officer. I look forward to his continued contribution when he returns to his chief strategy officer role as part of our leadership team.”
