The search for Morrisons CEO role is underway as the Bradford-based grocer looks to replace David Potts.
The owners of Morrisons, US-based private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), hired headhunter Egon Zehnder in December to identify a successor.
Potts, who has been at the helm of Morrisons since 2015, is not expected to leave until 2024, which means it can target other UK grocery leaders, who will likely have lengthy restrictions on start dates.
As Morrisons perseveres with its search, Retail Gazette looks at the possible candidates to replace Potts.
Jason Tarry
Jason Tarry has emerged as a frontrunner to replace David Potts as Morrisons CEO.
Tarry, who has been at the helm of Tesco’s UK and Ireland business since 2018, would be a good get for Morrisons as few have more experience of the UK grocery sector than him.
He’s spent more than three decades at Tesco, and his experience has spanned much of the grocer’s divisions, including food, clothing, and sourcing.
Morrisons may be in the mire right now, with declining sales and weighted with £6bn of debt following its leveraged buyout by CD&R, but Tarry is no stranger to helping a grocer out of crisis.
He helped to rebuild Tesco in the wake of its accounting scandal in 2014 and, as head of commercial, rebuilt its relationship with suppliers and help boost profits.
That experience will be invaluable as Morrisons looks to turn around its performance as it struggles to compete in the price-sensitive grocery market.
Tarry has also previously worked with Potts, and is a former colleague of Morrisons chairman Sir Terry Leahy, who ran Tesco until 2011.
Ashwin Prasad
Another senior Tesco executive, Ashwin Prasad, has been named by headhunters as a potential target for Morrisons.
Although he began his career working in the gas industry, Prasad very quickly cemented his presence in the world of FMCG and retail.
He spent three years with Mars, which has notably bred retail leaders including ex-Asda boss Allan Leighton and former Sainsbury’s CEO Justin King, before joining Tesco in 2010.
Prasad started off in the grocer’s £1bn confectionery category, before heading up areas such as general merchandise, health and beauty, and packaged goods.
He was promoted to group chief commercial officer, taking a seat on Tesco’s executive committee, in September 2020.
Described as “well respected” and a contender to replace Ken Murphy as Tesco boss when the time eventually comes, Prasad is a business leader with a track record of delivering results.
Ken Towle
Ken Towle, another former Tesco executive who is currently SVP of retail operations at Asda, could also be a contender.
Towle has a vast career experience in the grocery world, having joined Asda from Nisa – where he was CEO – in May 2022 to lead what the grocer terms “customer-focused leadership”.
Prior to this, Towle spent three decades at Tesco in a variety of roles. According to his LinkedIn, he had direct responsibility for the performance of six countries and helped drive £11 billion sales.
Towle also led Tesco’s international expansion and acceleration of the group’s multichannel capability.
Towle’s experience in convenience at Nisa would be invaluable at morrisons as it snapped up 1,100 store c-store chain McColl’s last year and is the process of converting them to Morrisons Daily stores.
Matthew Barnes
Most recently, the former UK chief executive of Aldi, Matthew Barnes, has emerged as a possible candidate to lead Morrisons.
Barnes, who was CEO of Aldi UK and Ireland from 2015 to 2018, stepped down from his position as co-speaker of the executive board of Aldi’s parent company, Aldi Süd, last month, sparking rumours that he may be on his way to Morrisons.
He is widely credited with reinventing Aldi’s format and spearheading its growth in the UK.
Getting the discounter’s blueprint for success has been to Morrisons’ detriment as Aldi leapfrogged the Bradford-based chain last year.
Grocery expert Steve Dresser pointed out that the world of big box retail and discount retail are very different.
Using a football analogy, he wrote on Twitter: “Ex discounters going to big box retail. It’s a little bit like a striker in league 2 going to the premier league. Can work (Vardy) but often doesn’t.”
However, competing with the discounters will be one of Morrisons’ greatest challenges right now. Who could offer it greater insight into how to approach this than Barnes?
Steven Cain
Coles CEO Steven Cain should also be on Morrisons’ watchlist, according to one headhunter.
According to his LinkedIn, Cain was the youngest ever CEO of an FTSE 100 Company. He describes himself as an entrepreneurial leader who has successfully grown shareholder value in multibillion pound retail firms.
He has led Aussie supermarket chain Coles for 5 years but knows UK grocery as he served as Asda’s group marketing director, store development director and grocery trading director during its turnaround between 1992 and 1998.
His expertise lies in food retail turnarounds, new store formats, buying and marketing, product development, internet, cost reduction and cash flow improvement. All of this could be benefit Morrisons.
Jo Whitfield
Jo Whitfield stood down from leading Co-op Food in September to “pursue her next challenge”.
Could this include a journey across the Pennines to lead Morrisons?
Whitfield had run Co-op Food since 2017, and was previous CFO of the business.
Whilst the convenience store experience at The Co-op would prove very useful, she also knows big box retail after spending eight years at Asda, where she led businesses such as general merchandise, Asda Money and Asda Mobile, and operations and strategy at George.
She has also spent time at Matalan and Northern Foods.
Whitfield, who was awarded a CBE for her services to retail and was previously the first grocery boss to win the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award, is well-respected but working for Morrisons private equity owners is a far cry from the co-operative model, which may make her an outsider for the role.
