John Lewis Partnership has announced that its chief executive, Nish Kankiwala, will be stepping down from his role.
This decision follows the appointment of Jason Tarry, former UK boss, as the new chairman. Mr Kankiwala will revert to a non-executive role in March next year, and the CEO position will be eliminated.
Mr Tarry, who took over as chairman on September 16, will oversee both the board and the day-to-day operations of the group after a handover with Mr Kankiwala. Mr Kankiwala has been CEO since March 2023, when the role was created by Dame Sharon White.
He stated that he agreed to take on the role for two years to help the group through a significant transformation. "This was in view of such a significant time for the partnership and to help accelerate this phase of the transformation," he said. "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."
He added: "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."
Mr Tarry praised Mr Kankiwala, stating he had been "instrumental in accelerating the transformation of the partnership". He added: "It’s a pleasure to work alongside Nish and I’m grateful that he has agreed to stay on as a non-executive board adviser and his ongoing support will be invaluable."
Dame Sharon officially passed on her duties last month, but she will remain with the group until the end of the year. John Lewis announced last month that it had significantly reduced its half-year losses and predicted that annual profits would be "significantly" higher.
The company reported pre-tax losses of £30m for the six months to July 27, a decrease of 49% from the £59m reported the previous year. Last month, the group also reinstated its "never knowingly undersold" price pledge, reversing a decision made two years ago due to concerns about its relevance to customers.
