John Dixon will be appointed Executive Director General Merchandise from 1st October 2012. John has been with the company for 26 years and has a strong track record in a variety of roles, most recently Executive Director of Food and previously Director for Home and Direct.
Belinda Earl will be appointed Style Director from 1st September 2012 reporting to John. In this new role Belinda will focus on product for 2 to 3 days a week. Belinda, ex-CEO of Debenhams, Jaeger and Aquascutum, has a unique insight into British style and a wealth of experience across all categories of clothing and general merchandise.
Kate Bostock Executive Director General Merchandise, will be leaving Marks & Spencer by mutual consent to pursue other interests. Kate will step down from the Board and leave M&S on 1st October 2012.
Steve Rowe currently Director of Retail, will be appointed Executive Director Food and will join the Board from 1st October 2012. Steve has been with M&S for 23 years and is a proven retailer. Currently Director for Retail, Steve heads all the GM and Food stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne will join the company from 1st September 2012 in the new role of Corporate Director of Strategy Implementation and Business Development. Patrick was previously a Group President at The Estée Lauder Companies. Most recently Patrick has been advising the M&S team to develop the new M&S YourBeauty concept. In joining M&S Patrick will be developing strategic initiatives and new concepts across the company.
Role reports directly to Marc Bolland, Chief Executive.
Marc Bolland, Chief Executive, said:
“John has done an outstanding job in running the food division over the past 4 years. He has delivered consistent growth through meeting our customer's desire for quality and innovation. He is the right person to take over the running of our General Merchandise division. He will be working closely in his new role with Belinda. She is a highly experienced retailer and her product knowledge and judgement will complement John's expertise. We are delighted that she has chosen to join us in this new role.
“Steve Rowe has been with the company for 23 years and has demonstrated his qualities as a proven retailer across a number of our departments. He is ideally suited to take on the task of continuing to grow our food business and I look forward to working closely with him.
“We are determined to expand and improve the range of products we offer our customers in areas such as beauty. Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne's expertise is bringing new concepts and products for women to market globally. He has been working with us to develop our new Beauty range and we look forward to him bringing his experience to bear across a wide range of new products and initiatives.