Wilko appoints chief executive
Wilko has promoted Jerome Saint-Marc to the position of chief executive.
In his new role, Saint-Marc will lead the company as it looks a become more product-focused omnichannel business. He will also sit on the Wilko holding board alongside family director and chair Lisa Wilkinson, chief finance officer Alex Russo, and non-executive directors Chris Martin and Dalton Philips.
Wilkinson said: “As group transformation director, Jerome is already a high performing and widely respected member of our leadership team and has played a key role in both the development and delivery of our long-term strategy and programme of change.
“More recently he’s taken on greater commercial responsibility as managing director of Wilko.com. We’re confident this appointment set us up well to keep sorting the needs of hard-working families in their homes and gardens through greater product focus.”
One of Sant-Marc’s first steps as chief executive has included appointing Christian Ward as retail director. Ward was previously chief commercial officer of Jollyes Pet Superstores where he steered the retailer through a period of growth. Prior to that, he held leadership and transformation roles at Marks & Spencer, B&Q and Tuffnells.
In addition, Alison Hands has been promoted to the position of trading director. Previouly Wilko’s commercial implementation director, Hands joined the business 18 months ago after working with retailers such as The Body Shop, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Boots Opticians.
Wilko’s move to a chief executive leadership model has also led to Andrew Moore stepping down as chief commercial officer. Wilkinson added: “We were very lucky to persuade Andrew to come out of retirement and as a holding board we’re greatly appreciative for the leadership and support he’s provided to us during the past year. He’s helped us to lay stronger commercial foundations for our future growth and we wish him all the very best for the future.”
