Marks & Spencer promotes Machin, Bickerstaffe to joint COOs

(Sharecast News) - Marks & Spencer said on Tuesday that it has promoted Katie Bickerstaffe and Stuart Machin to the roles of joint chief operating officers as it announced a shake-up of its leadership team's responsibilities.
The retailer said Machin will continue as managing director of Food but also take oversight responsibility for Operations, Property, Store Development and IT. Bickerstaffe will give oversight to the Data, Services, Clothing and Home and International businesses.

The changes come as the company moves from its 'Fixing the Basics' phase to reinvest in the brand and restore growth.

In addition, Eoin Tonge will take on Strategy and Transformation Planning as part of his remit as chief financial officer. Sacha Berendji will move from his current operations role to focus on "Future Stores" and accelerate the development of the company's 10X digital stores, store renewal, store rotation and IT.

Richard Price and Paul Friston will remain managing directors of Clothing and Home and International, respectively.

M&S said the Executive Committee will continue to operate as the business's central decision-making body and its membership is unchanged.

Chief executive officer Steve Rowe said: "Over the last three years we have built a great team of people at M&S and covered a lot of ground. Now we need to move into the next phase, and that means accelerating the pace of change, and Stuart and Katie will bring even more impetus to our core businesses.

"With that I will, with Eoin's support, be better able to concentrate on building the M&S of the future and our path to growth."