Asda has announced a number of changes to its executive team will be implemented over the coming year.
Ken Towle will join Asda’s executive leadership team later in the year as retail director, with responsibility for all Asda’s stores. Towle joins Asda from Nisa, which is part of the Co-op Group, and where he has held responsibility for supplying over 4,000 stores across Great Britain and Ireland as CEO since 2018.
Prior to leading Nisa, Ken spent 30 years with Tesco, where he worked in a variety of roles, including stores director, operations director for home office, CEO for China and finally MD for Central Europe, Ireland and Turkey as part of the Tesco executive team. Towle said: “It’s an exciting time to be joining the Asda team and I am really looking forward to getting started later in the year.”
Kris Comerford will join the business in late summer 2022 as chief commercial officer, food. Comerford will join Asda from Tesco, where he has most recently held the role of UK commercial director, packaged foods, fuel and tobacco.
Since joining Tesco in 2005, Kris has held responsibility for a range of key categories within the supermarket’s commercial team before taking on the role of customer director in 2016. He was then appointed chief commercial officer for Tesco Lotus in Thailand before returning to the UK in December 2020.
It was announced that Simon Gregg, who currently leads Asda’s online operation, is joining the executive leadership team. Derek Lawlor, who has led Asda’s commercial team since 2019, has decided to leave the business after six years.
“Set up for the future”
Commenting on the changes, Mohsin and Zuber Issa, who own Asda with TDR Capital Ltd, said: “Today we are confirming changes to the leadership of our business as we set ourselves up for the future.”
They said: “We are delighted that we continue to attract such talent to our great business. Together, we will continue to put our customers at the heart of all our decision making and focus on delivering excellent service in what we know will be another challenging period for consumers.”
New talent
Lord Stuart Rose, chairman of Asda, said: “I would like to thank Derek for his immense contribution to Asda over the past six years and wish him well for the future. I am delighted that Ken, Kris and Simon are joining the leadership team at Asda, where their experience and passion for retail will further strengthen our great team as we continue to build on Asda’s long heritage of delivering affordable quality and championing our customers.”
