Marks & Spencer names new CCO

British department store retailer Marks & Spencer has announced the appointment of Kara Greatorex as its new chief commercial officer.

Greatorex will succeed Paul Friston, who is stepping down from the company in October 2024 after 28 years, the retailer revealed in an LinkedIn post.

Greatorex herself is also a veteran in the retail field, having served in a number of positions at supermarket giant Aldi UK over the course of almost 16 years.

First starting out as buying director, she worked her way up to eventually become managing director, national IT, e-commerce and transformation.

Prior to Aldi, Greatorex was senior manager of strategy and trading services at Ocado.

Her appointment at Marks & Spencer coincides with the additional addition of Jon Downes as supply chain and commercial operations director, who has been poached from supermarket rival Morrisons.

Here, Downes most recently served as commercial director ambient and non-food, building on his nearly nine year career at the company.

Downes had also held the role of senior commercial buying at Tesco, where he had spent 14 years ahead of joining Morrisons, overseeing trading and sourcing of commercial food.