- Morrisons further strenghtens senior leadership team -
Morrisons is further strengthening its senior leadership team with three new hires together with the formal appointment of Martin Dawson as Group Retail Director and the promotion of Charlotte Exell to Online Director.
Matt Heslop has been appointed as Director of Convenience and Wholesale, starting in early March 2025. Matt has been at Lidl for over 20 years in a number of roles, most recently as Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of Lidl UK. He has deep experience in food retail with a long record of delivering growth, innovation and excellence for the customer.
Matt McLellan has been appointed to the newly created role of Group Data and Media Director and will join Morrisons later this year. Matt joins Morrisons from Asda where he was Vice President - Customer. At Asda Matt was responsible for the design and launch of their loyalty proposition and for developing a wide range of high profile customer programmes and initiatives.
Bruno Lebon has been appointed as Group Trading Director, Non-Food, working closely with Andrew Staniland who started in early February as Morrisons Group Trading Director. Bruno is one of the most experienced supermarket retailers in Europe, with over 39 years experience at Carrefour, most recently as Executive Director of Supermarkets and Hypermarkets.
All three new hires will report directly to CEO Rami Baitiéh.
Separately, Martin Dawson who in February last year was appointed interim Operations Director - Retail, has now formally been appointed as Group Retail Director and a member of the Executive Committee. Charlotte Exell, the Online Operations Director has been promoted to take on full responsibility for the Morrisons Online offer in the newly created role of Online Director.
In addition Rachel Eyre, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer, returns to Morrisons on 3rd March from maternity leave.
These appointments come as Morrisons recently announced that Group LFL sales were up 4.9% for Q4 and 4.1% for the year, representing eight consecutive quarters of positive LFL sales. The fourth quarter was the strongest LFL sales improvement for almost four years and the number of More Card linked sales has now reached 76%.
Rami Baitiéh, Morrisons CEO, said: “I’m very pleased to welcome three outstanding retailers to the Morrisons leadership team and to warmly welcome Rachel back from her maternity leave. All the new joiners have exceptional records in their fields and bring deep experience, a history of delivering growth and a clear customer focus. As Morrisons continues its re-invigoration and growth, their skills and their passion for the customer will make them a powerful addition to our team.
“Martin Dawson has made a significant impact in his new role over the last year and I am delighted to confirm him in the key role of Group Retail Director. And Charlotte Exell has played a vital part in the recent growth of our online business and I’m confident that under her leadership Morrisons.com will go from strength to strength.”