John Lewis appoints People Executive Director

The John Lewis Partnership has today appointed Nikki Humphrey as Executive Director for People, joining the company from Virgin Atlantic where she is Chief People Officer.

Humphrey will replace Tracey Killen who has retired after a 38 year career at John Lewis.

Starting on 1 October, she will be responsible for developing and delivering a people strategy for the Partnership’s 80,000 Partners.

She joins the company with over 20 years of HR leadership experience across many sectors, joining Virgin Atlantic in March 2017 from Lloyds Banking Group as Chief People Officer, responsible for the People strategy and leading the People team including corporate communications, occupational health & staff benefits.

This new appointment forms part of a seven-strong executive team and follows James Bailey joining as Executive Director of Waitrose in April and Pippa Wicks becoming Executive Director of John Lewis. 

Sharon White, Partner & Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “This appointment comes at a time where we are working hard to develop our people strategy.

"Nikki’s impressive experience will help ensure the Partnership continues to be a great place to work for current and future Partners, that both rewards and develops Partners, provides exceptional health and wellbeing support and improves our diversity and inclusion strategy, truly reflecting the communities we serve.”

Nikki Humphrey added: “I’m very excited to be joining the Partnership at this time. It’s a huge privilege to lead the People team and the People strategy for the 80,000 Partners. I’m really looking forward to working together with Partners, to shape the future and continue to provide the wonderful experience that is so valued by customers.”

Earlier this month, John Lewis launched a free virtual personal shopping service to help customers find what they are looking for and receive the product advice they would get in a department store without leaving their home.

The retailer also confirmed it will permanently close eight of its stores, putting 1,300 workers at risk, after announcing an initial ten would not re-open after lockdown.

The John Lewis Partnership said the decision was made to “secure the business’s long-term future and respond to customers’ shopping needs”.