John Lewis has abolished the chief executive’s job just weeks after the departure of Sharon White.
Nish Kankiwala will step down in March after just two years in the role and become a non-executive director.
The group said they would not replace Kankiwala, who will work to the end of his two-year contract until March 2025.
New chairman Jason Tarry, the former UK boss of Tesco who succeeded White in mid-September, will assume all executive responsibilities of the group behind the department store chain and Waitrose supermarkets.
Power: New John Lewis chairman Jason Tarry (pictured), the former UK boss of Tesco who succeeded White in mid-September, will assume all executive responsibilities of the group
The shake-up marks a further departure from the White era with John Lewis recently reviving the ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ price pledge she scrapped.
Kankiwala became the first ever chief executive of John Lewis in March 2023 when the business was grappling with a daunting turnaround mission.
But in recent months there have been signs of a revival at the partnership, which made a small profit last year.
The group yesterday cited ‘significant progression of the transformation’ as the reason for not replacing Kankiwala.
The business, which owns 34 department stores, had been accused of losing its way after focusing on non-retail revenue streams, including build-to-rent projects.
But Kankiwala said there had been ‘intense’ change at the group and it had ‘refreshed our partnership strategy to be rooted in retail’.
He also pointed to the group returning to full-year profit and boosting cash flows to enable higher investment.
The retail veteran was recruited as a trusted turnaround specialist, with a CV that includes top jobs at Hovis and Burger King.
‘I have every confidence in Jason taking the partnership from strength to strength in the next phase of our transformation and am delighted to continue to support him and the board in an advisory capacity going forward,’ Kankiwala added.
Tarry said Kankiwala had been ‘instrumental in accelerating the transformation of the partnership’.
‘I’m grateful that he [Kankiwala] has agreed to stay on as a non-executive board adviser,’ he said.
A major test for Tarry will be whether he brings back the group’s annual bonus for staff, which it has not paid staff for three years out of four.
After a period of decline, the group has said it is on course for significantly higher profits this year.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The abolition of the position of chief executive bolsters the partnership model concept at John Lewis.
‘So, it’s back to business as usual, after the shock of the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis, with the price pledge Never Knowingly Undersold also making a comeback last month.’
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