Aldi has named a new chief executive for its British and Irish operations as the current boss is promoted to an expanded role within the German grocer’s parent company.
The discount grocer has confirmed that Matthew Barnes will take up a new position on Aldi Süd’s coordination board in April and make way for Giles Hurley, who will become the new UK and Ireland chief executive.
Hurley, who is the current group managing director with responsibility for Aldi’s operations in Ireland, will step into his new role on May 1 and will report directly to Barnes.
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In his enlarged role, Barnes will focus on Aldi’s operations in the UK, Ireland, and the US.
He will also join the board of Hofer KG, which acts as management holding for Aldi’s Austrian and international shareholdings.
Barnes, who has been with Aldi since 1997, is credited with overseeing the supermarket’s dramatic rise from upstart to challenger to the Big 4 grocers.
Hurley is also an Aldi veteran, having spent almost 20 years at the retailer over which time he has held down roles such as training director, group buying director before his current role as group managing director since 2015.
Aldi, which has more than 700 stores in the UK and 29,000 staff, has an ambitious strategy to have a network of 1000 stores by 2022.
Just this year alone, it plans to launch 70 new UK stores and recruit 4000 staff.
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