Next has announced that group operations director Michael Law will retire during summer after 23 years with the high street giant.
The fashion retailer said Law would step down from the Next board of directors at its next annual general meeting on May 17, and then retire in July.
Law first indicated he would retire a year ago but the company has since been working on a succession plan.
As such, he will be replaced by Richard Papp, who has been promoted to the new group merchandise and operations director role.
He will join the board as an executive director.
Next said Law “made a huge contribution” for the company during his 23 years there, with the last five seeing him on the board.
He was also credited for leading the transformation of Next’s warehousing, logistics and systems operations over the last 10 years.
Meanwhile, Papp has been with Next for 25 years, joining as a merchandiser and working his way up to his current role of group merchandise director – which he has been in since 2006.
“He has worked extremely closely with our warehousing, logistics and systems teams to develop our online platform and is perfectly placed to lead the continued development of the group’s operations,” Next said in a statement.
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