John Lewis Partnership Appoints New Finance Director

Date Published:21/02/2012

Helen Weir has been appointed the new group finance director at the John Lewis Partnership. Ms Weir was the former head of retail banking at Lloyds Banking Group and is currently a non-executive director at brewing and bottling company, SAB Miller. Ms Weir also spent five years as finance director of B&Q and a further four years as group finance director at Kingfisher. She will be replacing Marisa Cassoni.

Ms Cassoni has held the position at John Lewis since 2006, and will be retiring in May after 20 years of working in senior roles in some of the UK’s largest companies. Ms Weir will take up her new position on 1st April, and will undergo a handover period until properly assuming the role from 1st June. Ms Weir has a first-class Oxford degree in maths and is a qualified chartered accountant.

Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, Charlie Mayfield, said, “I’m delighted to welcome Helen to the partnership as group finance director. Helen brings a wealth of both finance and retail experience and expertise and will be a great successor to Marisa, who has made an enormous contribution the partnership over the last six years”. Ms Weir was placed in her new position by headhunter Egon Zehnder.

John Lewis Partnership experienced good trading last week, with total group sales up 5% compared to the same period last year. A strong 43.9% growth in online trading helped overall sales rise 4.1%, whilst at Waitrose, sales rose 5.5%. However, first half profits have been hit by continued investment, and the annual bonus paid to its staff is expected to be less than the 18% of 2011.