// Gordon Mowat leaves M&S, marking another top-level departure at M&S in less than a week
// Gordon Mowat served as M&S clothing and home supply chain and logistics director for 2 years
// He will succeeded on an interim basis by Stephen Fitzgerald, the recently-appointed clothing & home trading and transformation director
Marks & Spencer clothing and home supply chain and logistics director Gordon Mowat is leaving the retailer after two years in the role.
Mowat, a former Morrisons property director and Jack Wills chief operating officer, is the latest senior figure to exit from the retail giant’s clothing and home division since managing director Jill McDonald left in July.
In addition, Mowat’s resignation comes a just a few days after M&S revealed that chief financial officer Humphrey Singer was also leaving.
Mowat – who joined M&S in August 2017 – will be succeeded on an interim basis by Stephen Fitzgerald, the former executive assistant for M&S group chief executive Steve Rowe who was appointed clothing and home trading and transformation director three months ago.
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Rowe himself has taken direct charge of M&S’s clothing and home arm following McDonald’s exit, which came about after the division posted consistently lacklustre sales and profits in the retailer’s trading updates.
M&S told staff about Mowat’s departure in an email yesterday.
The retailer said Mowat had started fixing basic supply chain problems, and the business will now “move faster to address longstanding issues in the supply chain”.
“As I said when I began to oversee clothing and home in July, we need to move faster to address long-standing issues in the clothing and home supply chain around availability and flow of product,” Rowe said in an internal staff email, as seen by Drapers.
“Gordon has helped us to take our first steps in fixing the basics of our supply chain, including stabilising Donnington [distribution centre] and moving to a single-tier network, and he leaves with our thanks.”
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