John Lewis brings back former fashion boss in bid to turn fortunes around
John Lewis is bringing back its former director Peter Ruis to lead the department chain, in its latest efforts to turnaround the business.
Ruis will return to the ailing retailer as executive director after a near decade long hiatus.
The high street heavyweight has had senior level stints at some of the world’s most recognised fashion brands, including Jigsaw, Anthropologie, Marks and Spencer.
Most recently he was chief executive at Indigo plc in Canada, leading the business as it transitioned out of the pandemic over the past three years.
Ruis will join next week and replace Naomi Simcock, who was handling the role on an interim basis following an abrupt exit from Pippa Wicks last March.
As for Simcock, she will take up a new position as operations director for John Lewis.
Ruis said: It’s a great privilege to return to the John Lewis Partnership after 10 years.
The John Lewis brand is iconic, loved and trusted by millions of customers across the UK and I’m excited to lead the next phase of the transformation.
“As the biggest employee-owned business in the UK, we have a huge opportunity to make even more of the unique Partner difference to provide exceptional products and service for our customers.”
The shakeup comes amid a period of losses for the John Lewis Partnership, which also owns supermarket Waitrose.
Frontwoman for the struggling brand, Sharon White will exit the role next February, leaving behind her a troubled balance sheet.
White, the former boss of Ofcom, enacted a turnaround strategy during the pandemic to grow the business profits to £400m in five years but this is now expected to be completed in 2027/28.