Mothercare appoints Lovefilm's Simon Calver as chief executive

Calver will join the maternity retailer on April 30 at which time chairman Alan Parker will resume his role as non-executive chairman.

He replaces Ben Gordon who exited the retailer on November 17 following a series of profit warnings. Since that time Mothercare’s executive management team has been reporting directly to Parker.

Calver has been chief executive of Lovefilm since 2005 during which time it was acquired by Amazon Inc. 

He led the merger of Video Island with Lovefilm and has grown the business into one of the UK’s largest subscription entertainment service.

Calver has also held senior positions at software development firm Riverdeep Inc, Dell Computer Corporation and PepsiCo. He began his career at Lever Brothers followed by Coopers Deloitte Management Consultancy.

Parker said: “Simon Calver is a highly successful business leader with experience heading multinational consumer facing organisations.

“His e-commerce and brand expertise will enable Mothercare to accelerate its development as a multi-channel retailer in the UK and his international perspective will be invaluable to the continued rapid expansion of Mothercare and Early Learning Centre globally.”

Simon Calver said: “I am delighted to be joining Mothercare and to have the opportunity to lead this iconic company as we work to consolidate its position as one of the world’s leading parenting groups.

“Whilst there are near term challenges ahead, I am committed to the recovery of the UK business and the accelerated growth of these aspirational brands around the world.”

Retail Week tipped consumer brand expertise as the key criteria Mothercare was searching for in its new boss when Gordon departed last October.