Laura Wade-Gery

Presiding over Tesco.com and Tesco Direct gives Laura Wade-Gery a bigger job than many stand-alone retailers. Tesco is considered to be the only grocer with a profitable online food operation. In its full-year results in April, Tesco reported profits in its online business were up 26% to £136m.

Wade-Gery is often touted as a potential successor to Sir Terry Leahy (1) and if the online and catalogue business continue to power ahead, she could well put herself in pole position.

Over the past year Wade-Gery has strengthened Tesco.com with the relaunch of both its entertainment and clothing sites.

Clothing has just topped £1bn sales, partly because of the online success, and in entertainment, the revamped site reached £1m-worth of sales in only its fourth week.

Wade-Gery has been quick to make the most of new developments, launching a Clubcard application for several mobile phone operators, with several other initiatives underway.