Justin King, the renowned former CEO of Sainsbury’s, will step down from his role as Non-Executive Director on the Board of Marks & Spencer next month.
He has served on the retailer’s Board twice, as a NED since January 2019 and, before that, as Head of Food between 2001 and 2004.
King was once considered by analysts as a possible successor to M&S Chairman Archie Norman, who has held the role since 2017.
Norman today paid tribute to King’s service: “Justin has a formidable reputation as one of the country’s leading retail executives. He brought his keen intellect, strong work ethic and constructive challenge to our deliberations at M&S, and we are grateful for his time on the Board. He leaves as a lifelong friend of the business and goes with all our thanks for his meaningful contribution.”
King added: “M&S is a special business to me, having run the Food business earlier in my career. It has been a privilege to return as a non-executive for six and a half years and play a part in the progress and real, lasting change that has been delivered through the Reshaping for Growth strategy.”
M&S is currently recovering from a cyber attack in April, which crippled its online business and impacted product availability in its stores. Its shares are down 6% so far this year.
