Halfords hires Graham Stapleton as its new chief executive
Car parts and cycling retailer Halfords has appointed Graham Stapleton as its new chief executive.
Due to join the business on 15 January 2018, Stapleton is currently chief executive of Dixons Carphone’s Honeybee software business. Prior to that, he was chief executive of Dixons Carphone’s Connected World Services Division from 2015 to 2017 and chief executive of Carphone Warehouse UK & Ireland from 2013 to 2015.
Stapleton is understood to have played a major role in in the merger and integration of Dixons and Carphone Warehouse. Prior to the merger, he held senior UK and European commercial and operational roles with Carphone Warehouse including managing director of its In-Car Solutions division.
His earlier career includes senior leadership roles at Kingfisher and Marks & Spencer.
Halfords’ current chief executive Jill McDonald will leave the company at the end of September to take up a position at Marks & Spencer. In the period before Stapleton starts, chief financial officer Jonny Mason will take on the additional duties of interim chief executive.
Dennis Millard, Halfords chairman, said: “Graham is an outstanding business leader with the retail, digital, services and category credentials that are an ideal fit for his role as chief executive of Halfords. We set out our “Moving up a Gear” strategy just under 2 years ago and Graham will continue to drive its implementation and pursue our service-led, growth strategy. We are delighted to have recruited Graham who will be able to build on what we’ve achieved over the last few years and we all look forward to working with him.”
