John Lewis boss to step back from role after two years
John Lewis Partnership chief executive Nish Kankiwala will step back from his role in spring next year, with freshly-inaugurated chair Jason Terry to take a larger role in the day-to-day running of the firm.
The retailer, which runs both the John Lewis retail chain and the Waitrose grocery arm, said that Kankiwala will revert to the less-hands-on, advisory role of non-executive director.
Kankiwala became chief executive in March last year after then-chair Dame Sharon White created the role, and he will step away in March next year.
Tarry took over from Dame White on 16 September. White left the role – during which she came under fire for store closures, a push into property, and a failure to deliver staff’s annual bonus – a year earlier than planned.
The employee-owned John Lewis Partnership is currently engaged in a turnaround plan. It reported a return to profit before tax of £56m in 2023, marking a £290m improvement year-on-year.
John Lewis Partnership’s outgoing chief executive Nish Kankiwala said: “The board asked me to move across from my non-executive director role to chief executive back in March 2023.
“This was in view of such a significant time for the partnership and to help accelerate this phase of the transformation.
“I was delighted to agree to take on the role for a two-year period during this time of pivotal change.
“Since then we’ve refreshed our partnership strategy to be rooted in retail; significantly improved our cash flows to enable record investment for growth; and returned the partnership to full-year profit.
“It’s been the privilege of my life to lead the partnership as CEO during this period of intense transformation.”
“I have every confidence in Jason taking the partnership from strength to strength in the next phase of our transformation and am delighted to continue to support him and the board in an advisory capacity going forward,” he added.