The John Lewis Partnership has hired a former Centrica executive to be part of its restructured management team that is now being led by new Chairman Sharon White.
Nina Bhatia will join the group on 17 February as Executive Director, Strategy & Commercial Development, reporting to White.
Most recently she was the MD of Hive, one of Europe’s largest connected home businesses and part of Centrica. Prior to this, she led one of British Gas’s home services businesses.
Nina also has strategy experience having been a Partner at consultancy firm McKinsey for over 10 years working with clients in the consumer, energy, healthcare and public sectors.
Commenting on her appointment, Nina said: “The business’s purpose and its two incredibly strong brands resonate strongly with me. Working with Partners across the business, I look forward to developing a strategy for the Partnership that is relevant to our customers, is built on trust and delivers commercial value.”
White, who took over from Sir Charlie Mayfield this week, added: “Nina brings tremendous commercial and strategic experience and will play a crucial role as part of the newly-formed Future Partnership Executive team.”
The appointment comes as the group finalises the combination of the executive teams behind John Lewis and Waitrose as part of its ‘Future Partnership’ plan that aims to cut costs and utilise its offering across both chains. The creation of the new cross-Partnership roles has led to the reduction of around 75 senior management head office jobs, from 225.
Last month, JLP warned that its annual staff bonus may be in doubt after it reported disappointing sales over the Christmas period in both its chains.
