Sainsbury's appoints marketing director

Former Heineken director Sarah Warby will join the grocer next Monday and sit on Sainsbury’s operating board reporting to group commercial director Mike Coupe.

In December, former MasterCard director Mark Horgan decided not take up his post as marketing director due to “personal reasons” while head of marketing strategy Claire Harrison-Church revealed she is to leave in February. Horgan has since been appointed chief executive of foreign exchange specialist Moneycorp.

Rebecca Singleton, at present head of non-food marketing at Sainsbury’s, will join Morrisons as marketing director at the end of March.

Warby will have full responsibility for all Sainsbury’s marketing activity across brand communications, non-food marketing, customer insights and loyalty. The department has more than 100 staff.

In her time at Heineken, Warby was responsible for a number of the UK’s most high-profile FMCG brands including Foster’s, Strongbow and Kronenbourg.

Prior to this she was innovation director at Heineken where she led the combined technical and marketing team. Earlier in her career Sarah worked for several marketing agencies and was a graduate at Unilever.

Coupe said: “Sarah’s a fantastic hire for us. She played a huge role in Heineken’s UK success and has a great track record and reputation. Her wealth of experience will further strengthen our excellent team at an exciting time for the business.”