Marks & Spencer poaches John Lewis finance chief Helen Weir
MARKS & Spencer has poached Helen Weir from John Lewis to become its news finance director.
Weir will succeed Alan Stewart, who quit M&S in July to join Tesco, and was fast-tracked into the job in September, when Tesco discovered a black hole in its accounts.
Weir has been CFO at John Lewis since 2012 and held senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group and Kingfisher. She has also worked at Unilever and McKinsey & Co.
M&S chief executive Marc Bolland said: “We are delighted to be appointing Helen as CFO. She is extremely well qualified, and brings a wealth of relevant financial, retail and consumer experience.”
John Lewis confirmed that Weir will leave the company but said she is “expected to work her six month notice period”, which means she may not join M&S until next May.
Weir, who is also a non-executive director of SAB Miller and The Rugby Football Union, described M&S as a “great brand”, and said: “This is an exciting time to be joining the company and I am delighted to be part of the team.”
M&S said Weir would receive a basic annual salary of £590,000 along with standard benefits. She will also receive a one-off payment of £188,500 to compensate for the differential in contractual pension that she is forfeiting to join M&S. The retailer said a further award for 2014-15 annual bonus foregone may also be taken into consideration.