Marks and Spencer makes two appointments in the leadership team
New Delhi, February 22, 2011: Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd. (Marks & Spencer India) today announces two new appointments to its leadership team. James Munson joins as the new Head of Retail and Marketing and Maneesh Gaur as the Head of Property & Projects. James will head Retail Operations, Marketing and Corporate Communications. Maneesh will be part of the leadership team to strategically drive the property strategy and store opening programme for Marks & Spencer in India.
Martin Jones, CEO at Marks & Spencer India, said: "I'm delighted to welcome James and Maneesh to our leadership team. India is an important market for Marks & Spencer, its large population and economic growth presents us with our huge opportunity. James' and Maneesh's keen business acumen and retail expertise will add great value to our business and help support our growth in India."
A seasoned retail professional with over 14 years of experience in the industry, James joined Marks & Spencer UK in 2006 as an experienced manager from BHS. He has held various positions of increasing responsibility from Commercial Manager in both foods and general merchandise to most recently as the Store Manager of the Camberley store, Marks & Spencer's second largest store in the UK with over 1,000 employees.
Commenting on his appointment, James said: "I am very pleased to be joining Marks & Spencer India at a time where there is great opportunity for us to build a leadership position in the market. Marks & Spencer is an iconic retailer with a high quality, great value product offer. Our core brand values of Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and Trust are as important to us in India today as they were when Marks & Spencer was founded in the UK over 125 years ago. I look forward to being a part of the team that will continue to build this unique brand in the Indian market."
Maneesh brings to Marks & Spencer two decades of experience in formulating business expansion strategies, techno commercials and legal negotiations for different retail formats across a number of Indian cities. He joins Marks & Spencer after a 6-year period at Shoppers Stop. Previously, he has held a variety of leadership roles across international retailers and the hospitality industry.
Commenting on his new role at Marks & Spencer India, Maneesh said: "I'm thrilled to be at Marks & Spencer India especially at a time when we are seeing the Indian retail market come of age and attract an increasing amount of interest. Marks & Spencer has great momentum in the Indian market and I look forward to helping to build a strong presence here."
Marks & Spencer embarked on its joint venture with Reliance Retail in 2008 and currently has 19 stores in India selling womenswear, menswear and kidswear, as well as homeware and beauty products.
Notes to editors
Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt. Ltd. is the joint venture formed in April 2008 between Marks & Spencer and Reliance Retail. Marks & Spencer Reliance India operates 19 stores in India including the new stores at DLF Promenade & Terminal 3, Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.
Marks & Spencer (M&S) is one of the UK’s leading retailers, offering high quality, great value clothing, as well as home products and outstanding quality food. M&S employs over 76,000 people and has 696 UK stores and 358 international stores in 42 territories.
Reliance Retail Limited Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited opened its first retail store in November 2006 and today operates over 1,000 stores in more than 85 cities, spanning 14 states and serving over 2.5 million customers every week.
About Reliance Industries Limited Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India's largest private sector company on all major financial parameters with a turnover of Rs. 2,00,400 crore (US$ 44.6 billion), cash profit of Rs. 27,933 crore (US$ 6.2 billion), net profit of Rs. 16,236 crore (US$ 3.6 billion) and net worth of Rs. 1,37,171 crore (US$ 30.6 billion) as of March 31, 2010.
RIL is the first private sector company from India to feature in the Fortune Global 500 list of ‘World’s Largest Corporations' and ranks 117th amongst the world's Top 200 companies in terms of profits. RIL ranks 75th in the Financial Times FT Global 500 list of the world's largest companies. RIL is rated as the 15th 'Most Innovative Company' in the World in a survey conducted by the US financial publication-Business Week in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group.
For further information, please contact:
Genesis Burson–Marsteller
Tanushree Mandal/Tejaswi Rathore
Mob: + 91 9999067127/+ 91 9811793973
E-mail:
tanushree.mandal@bm.com /
tejaswi.rathore@bm.com
