Next appoints new merchandise and operations director as Law retires

Michael Law, long-standing operations director at high street giant Next, has announced he will retire this July after 23 years at the business and five years on its board.

Law, who will stand down from Next's board at its AGM in May, will be replaced by Richard Papp, who will join the board at the AGM and take up the new position of merchandise and operations director.

Papp has been with next for 25 years having joined as a merchandiser in 1991, moving up to merchandise manager in 1996 and then menswear product director in 2001. After a brief break from Next in 2005 he returned in 2006 to take up the role of group merchandise director.

In this role Papp had oversight of the merchandising function, product systems, international franchise, and clearance operations and worked closely with the warehousing, logistics and systems teams to develop Next's online platform. He was therefore "perfectly placed to lead the continued development of the Group's operations", Next said.

Next thanked Law for his "outstanding" service. "Michael has made a huge contribution to the Group in his 23 years with Next. In particular, he has led the transformation of our Warehousing, Logistics and Systems operations over the last 10 years," it said.

Law informed the company of his intention to retire over a year ago and it has been working on its succession plan in the interim.