LONDON, 2016-Mar-23 — /EPR Retail News/ — The John Lewis Partnership announces the appointment of Keith Williams as non-executive Deputy Chairman, succeeding Mark Price who leaves the Partnership on 4 April 2016, as announced in October 2015. Keith Williams will be taking up his new role from 4 April 2016.
Keith joined the Partnership Board as a non-executive director in March 2014. In addition to his new role as Deputy Chairman, Keith has agreed to extend his term as a Non-Executive Director for a further two years.
Keith is currently Executive Chairman of British Airways and is retiring from his role on 31 March. He joined the airline in 1998 and became Chief Executive in 2011. Prior to joining British Airways he worked for a range of major corporations including Reckitt and Coleman, Apple Computer Inc and Boots. He is also Independent Non-Executive Director of Transport for London.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: ‘I’m delighted Keith has agreed to take up the role of Deputy Chairman. In the two years since his appointment to the Board he has made a valuable contribution to the Partnership and I look forward to working with him in his new role’.
Notes to editors
The John Lewis Partnership – The John Lewis Partnership operates 46 John Lewis shops across the UK, johnlewis.com, 346 Waitrose shops, waitrose.com and business to business contracts in the UK and abroad. The business has annual gross sales of over £11bn. It is the UK’s largest example of an employee-owned business where all 91,500 staff are Partners in the business.
Waitrose – winner of the Best Supermarket1 and Best Food and Grocery Retailer2 awards- currently has 346 shops in England, Scotland, Wales and the Channel Islands, including 60 convenience branches, and another 27 shops at Welcome Break locations. It combines the convenience of a supermarket with the expertise and service of a specialist shop – dedicated to offering quality food that has been responsibly sourced, combined with high standards of customer service. Waitrose also exports its products to 58 countries worldwide and has seven shops which operate under licence in the Middle East. Waitrose’s omnichannel business includes the online grocery service Waitrose.com, as well as specialsit online shops including waitrosecellar.com for wine and waitrosekitchen.com for cookware, utensils and kithchen gadgets.
¹ Which? Customer Survey
² Verdict Customer Satisfaction Awards
John Lewis – John Lewis operates 46 John Lewis shops across the UK (32 department stores, 12 John Lewis at home and shops at St Pancras International and Heathrow Terminal 2) as well as johnlewis.com. John Lewis, ‘Best Clothing Retailer 2015’ , ‘Best Electricals Retailer 2015’ and ‘Best Homewares Retailer 2015’3, typically stocks more than 350,000 separate lines in its department stores across fashion, home and technology. Johnlewis.com stocks over 280,000 products, and is consistently ranked one of the top online shopping destinations in the UK. John Lewis Insurance offers a range of comprehensive insurance products – home, car, wedding and event, travel and pet insurance and life cover – delivering the values of expertise, trust and customer service expected from the John Lewis brand.
3 Verdict Consumer Satisfaction Awards 2015
You can follow John Lewis on the following social media channels:
www.johnlewis.com/twitter
www.johnlewis.com/facebook
www.johnlewis.com/youtube.
Enquiries
For further information please contact:
John Lewis Partnership
Katie Robson
Senior Manager, Group External Communications
Telephone: 020 7592 6296
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Simon Rigby / Jos Bieneman
Telephone: 020 7638 9571