Power List: New bosses at Net-a-Porter, Boots and Asda profiled

The announcement of high-profile appointments by the sector’s leading retailers is always accompanied by much fanfare and debate as colleague and competitors alike dissect the details.

There has been a glut of big-name appointments in recent months as a host of new and old faces take the reins.

To prepare for the launch of this year’s Power List, Retail Week profiles three new bosses making an appearance in the line-up for the very first time. Find out where each person ranks in the list of the 100 most powerful retail leaders, revealed on Thursday June 16 at 6am.

Roger Burnley

Incoming chief operating officer, Asda

Incoming chief operating officer Roger Burnley will start at Asda in October. Clarke wooed Burnley from Sainsbury’s, where staff are understood to be gutted that the Yorkshireman has opted to return to Leeds-based Asda. Burnley is a popular leader and has a reputation for getting things done.

He is familiar with Asda after a successful six years spent at the grocer earlier in his career where he served under Archie Norman and Allan Leighton, the duo that turned around Asda in the 1990s.

See how Burnley’s reputation for strong leadership has translated for him on Thursday in Retail Week’s definitive list of the top 100 most influential people in retail.

Federico Marchetti

Chief executive, Yoox Net-a-Porter Group

Federico Marchetti was relatively unknown in the UK this time last year, despite founding Italian luxury etail giant Yoox Group. However, Yoox’s acquisition of Net-a-Porter in October 2015 thrust him into the spotlight. The merger has created a €2.8bn luxury etail powerhouse.

The merger has also brought a fair bit of upheaval, including the departure of Net founder Natalie Massenet, Mr Porter boss Ian Tansley and Stephanie Phair, president of Net’s discount etailer The Outnet.

But has the former investment banker made sure those changes haven’t negatively impacted the group’s performance and just where does he rank on the list? Find out on Thursday.

Elizabeth Fagan

Incoming senior-vice president and managing director (UK and Ireland), Walgreens Boots Alliance

Next month Boots international boss Elizabeth Fagan will take charge of the retailer’s UK and Irish business, following the departure of Simon Roberts. She’s a Boots-lifer, having joined the business 16 years ago as a buyer. Fagan has also previously been marketing director and managing director of Boots Opticians before taking charge of Walgreens Boots Alliance business in Latin America, Asia, continental Europe and the Middle East in 2015.

The retailer has gone through two major rounds of redundancies in the space of a year. That aside, Boots UK revealed a 1.8% rise in second-quarter retail like-for-likes in April, driven by a “good performance” over Christmas and strong results for its ‘Order & Collect’ service.

Taking control of the UK business is certainly a major undertaking and could result in Fagan entering the higher echelons of the list? But how high will she place?