Asda has appointed two senior tech execs, including former M&S chief technology officer Rob Barnes, who are set to oversee the development of its new technology strategy and separation from Walmart.
The supermarket will welcome Barnes as its new delivery director early next year.
The executive will be responsible for the design, build and delivery of all colleague and customer-facing technology, and will also act as deputy chief information officer at the company.
Prior to working for M&S, Barnes served as the Accenture retail tech advisory business managing director, where he managed technology delivery for a range of clients including Dyson, Clarks, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Best Buy.
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
Adrian Berry will also join as the supermarket’s chief technology officer in the new year.
The exec will be in charge of all core technology teams including service delivery, infrastructure, application engineering, platform teams and enterprise technology services.
Most recently, Berry served as Aston Barclay Vehicle Remarketing chief information officer, and was previously Lowell Credit Management’s UK CIO and Group CTO.
The news follows Asda chair Lord Stuart Rose recently claiming staff would not be given body cameras, amid a rise in retail thefts.
The comments came after Tesco chief executive Ken Murphy revealed staff at his supermarket were being offered body cameras after an increase in violent attacks.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
