The parent company of John Lewis and Waitrose has appointed former Marks & Spencer executive Laura Wade-Gery to its board.
Wade-Gery, who resigned from M&S last September, will take up a non-executive position with the John Lewis Partnership.
Wade-Gery had been M&S’s multichannel director of UK retail and online operations and was tipped to become the retailer’s next chief executive before Steve Rowe was appointed in April 2016.
Wade-Gery grabbed headlines when the maternity leave that she took from August 2015 to January 2016 was extended to September, when it was then confirmed she would not return to M&S.
She has also previously worked in senior positions at Tesco, as group strategy director and then chief executive of its online business.
John Lewis Partnership chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield said Wade-Gery would bring “a wealth of experience in business and retailing” and would enhance the board‘s “strength and depth”.
Wade-Gery is also on the board of shopping centre operators British Land and is a member of the Government‘s Digital Advisory Board.
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