M&S promotes Bickerstaffe and Machin to become chief operating officers

The pair will become joint chief operating officers, reporting to chief executive Steve Rowe. 

M&S said that the changes reflected its shift to a new phase of transformation, leaving the “fixing the basics” phase and ready to “reinvest in the brand and restore growth”.

In her new role Bickerstaffe, who has led the MS2 digital programme, will be in charge of data, services, the clothing and home division and international businesses – which are primarily also clothing and home.

Machin will remain in charge of food, adding responsibilities for operations, property, store development and IT.

The changes will allow Rowe to focus further on future direction alongside finance chief Eoin Tonge, who will assume extra responsibilities for strategy and transformation planning.

Rowe said: “Over the last three years, we have built a great team of people at M&S and covered a lot of ground. Now we need to move into the next phase and that means accelerating the pace of change, and Stuart and Katie will bring even more impetus to our core businesses. 

“With that I will, with Eoin’s support, be better able to concentrate on building the M&S of the future and our path to growth.”

Operations supremo Sacha Berendji will now focus on “future stores” and accelerate the development of digital stores, store renewal, store rotation and IT.

 Richard Price and Paul Friston remain as managing directors of clothing and home and international respectively.