M&S loses Plan A director, Richard Gillies, to Kingfisher

M&S veteran Richard Gillies has quit the retailer’s top sustainability job to head up DIY group Kingfisher Net Positive eco-plan.

Gillies, director of Plan A at Marks & Spencer, is leaving the company that he has worked at since 1984 to become group sustainability director at the DIY group and will lead the plan, which takes timber, energy, innovation and communities as its priorities.

He will also take responsibility for government affairs and will report to Kingfisher group chief executive Ian Cheshire.

Kingfisher’s Net Positive Plan launched in 2012 and involves the retailer’s employees, customers and external partners in areas similar to those covered by Plan A, which is seen as one of the most far-reaching sustainability strategies in retail.

Gillies, who has been director of Plan A since 2008, will be replaced by M&S’s head of sustainable business Mike Barry on October 1.

An M&S spokesman said: “Mike has been Head of Plan A since its conception in 2007 and has worked for M&S’s sustainability team since April 2000. We’d like to thank Richard for his significant contribution over the last 29 years and wish him all the best for the future.”

Source : John Ryan - Retail Week
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