Sharon White is set to step down as the boss of the John Lewis Partnership at the end of her current five-year term.
White has begun discussions with the partnership’s board to choose a replacement after announcing that she will not run for re-election. She will become the chair with the shortest tenure in the partnership’s 100-year history as a result of the change.
“Having led the partnership through the pandemic and the worst of the cost-of-living crisis, it is important that there is now a smooth and orderly succession process and handover,” White said.
In order to “drive innovation and change, while also retaining and strengthening the company’s distinctive character and democratic vitality,” White joined the John Lewis Partnership in 2020.
Since then, the former Ofcom CEO has overseen a significant revamp that has seen a number of stores close and a push towards new business sectors like rental housing.
White was the subject of a vote of no confidence earlier this year because to complaints about the partnership’s management, which oversees the department store chain and its grocery branch Waitrose.
Reports that the partnership would attract outside investment and alter its employee-owned structure sparked the uproar. White came under fire after the company announced that it would withhold an annual bonus from employees for just the second time since 1953.
She stressed that the partnership’s five-year strategy will bring the business back to sustainable profit in a speech she gave to the Employee Ownership Association in June.
Although the partnership suffered another half-year loss last month, it announced that its five-year restructuring strategy will take two years longer than anticipated.
The plan, which had a 2025–2026 profit objective of £ 400 million, will now take place in 2027–2028 due to “inflationary pressures.” The retail group reported a deficit of £ 234 million for the most recent fiscal year.
