Retail veteran
Today Ahold announced it has appointed Ben
Wishart as Group Chief Information Officer, a new role in the company. The
Briton will officially start on 17 June. Wishart already was CIO at British food retailer
Morrisons since October 2011 and before that British hospitality
group Whitbread.
Retail veteran Wishart also had several successful positions within
senior information management at Tesco. He has earned his stripes
in the British technology branch: in 2010 he was named the “third most
influential CIO of Great Britain” in the CIO50 of Silicon.com.
“Technology increasingly critical element”
Wishart will report directly to CFO Jeff Carr,
who sees an important strategic role for the newcomer: “Technology is an
increasingly critical element in ensuring the success of our Reshaping Retail
strategy. I am pleased that Ben joins us to lead the next stage of Ahold’s journey
as we are responding to a changing retail world, leveraging our scale and
coordinating technology.”
The CFO underlines Wishart’s skills in “strategic
leadership, business transformation, team-building capabilities and technology
leadership skills.”
