John Lewis boss Sharon White to step down

John Lewis confirmed on Monday that chairman Sharon White will be leaving when her five-year term ends in February 2025, making her tenure the shortest in the retailer’s history.

The company said White has asked the partnership board to kick off the process to appoint a successor and to review the accountabilities of the chairman’s role to ensure that these "continue to support the successful transformation of the business".

White said: "The chairman of the John Lewis Partnership is a special and unique role in UK business. The chairman is responsible for the long-term health of the Partnership’s model - commercial success twinned with a commitment to first rate customer service and action in our communities.

"Having led the Partnership through the pandemic and the worst of the cost-of-living crisis, it is important that there is now a smooth and orderly succession process and handover.

"The Partnership is making progress in its modernisation and transformation with improving results. There is a long road ahead and I am committed to handing on the strongest possible Partnership to my successor."

News of White’s departure comes less than a month after John Lewis announced that it was pushing back its recovery plan by two years, blaming record levels of inflation.

The loss-making department store chain, which also owns Waitrose, said in September that the turnaround - dubbed internally the Partnership Plan - had been pushed back to 2027/28, after record levels of inflation added £179m to its costs last year.