Now CEO of Sainsbury’s, Simon was introduced to The Institute of Customer Service in his role as Retail Director at Boots and was invited to become a Vice President in 2011. Simon was appointed as Chairman of the Board in July 2015 and the President in July 2022. Simon brought with him his passion for building relationships across communities, employees and customers to underpin growth and achieve sustainable operations.
Simon has over 30 years’ experience working in retail across markets of food, clothing, homeware and health & beauty. Prior to becoming CEO of Sainsbury’s, he served as Retail & Operations Director, and before that, Simon was appointed Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. President of Boots in January 2015 and previously he was the Managing Director, Health & Beauty UK and Republic of Ireland of Boots UK. Simon led the Boots’ customer care strategy and has been responsible since 2013 for the operational and strategic development of Boots across 2500 stores across the UK and Ireland.
Additionally, Simon spent the first 15 years of his career at Marks and Spencer in a number of stores, regional and divisional leadership roles across the UK.
