WH Smith shakes-up its management team

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Friday 16th Jan 2004.

Swindon company WH Smith has carried out a restructuring of its top management team

The company has made the changes to its UK retail management team, under Kate Swann's leadership.

It claims the restructuring will simplify and consolidate the leadership of the business.

The shake-up follows news that the firm had poor sales in the run-up to Christmas.

WH Smith also wants to strengthen its team bringing in new faces from outside.

Key changes include:

Simon Marinker, currently managing director of WH Smith Travel Retail, will now take additional responsibility for retail operations in the High Street business.

A new role of commercial director is being created with overall responsibility for trading and marketing.

The core support functions of property and business systems will now be consolidated into the finance function, giving the finance director a broader role.

Ms Swann said: "At the time of our trading statement, I said one of my priorities is to strengthen the management team within the UK Retail business.

"The restructuring is the first step towards achieving this goal. This smaller, more focused UK Retail team will promote faster decision-making, enabling us to tackle the issues we face more quickly."

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