Sainsbury´s: announces new Operating Board appointment

London / UK. (js) J. Sainsbury PLC has appointed Dido Harding to the role of convenience director. She will join Sainsbury´s in Spring 2008 and will also be a member of the company´s Operating Board. Dido is currently with Tesco where she has held a variety of senior roles both in their United Kingdom and international businesses. She has considerable retail experience, including strategic roles at Kingfisher and Thomas Cook, and began her career as a consultant with McKinsey.

Dido will take over from Lawrence Christensen who has been leading the division since June 2006, and who was previously Sainsbury´s supply chain director for two years. Lawrence will continue to lead Sainsbury´s Convenience until Dido arrives and completes a period of induction.

Sainsbury´s currently operates 305 convenience stores, and recently acquired 15 stores from Kwik Save. In 2004, the company committed to growing sales in the Convenience division by 400 million GBP by March 2008. In addition, new three-year targets were set out in May 2007 with plans to open 100 new convenience stores by March 2010 (press release).