John Lewis director returns to lead department store
The John Lewis Partnership has appointed Peter Ruis as executive director to lead John Lewis, who returns to the business after 11 years.
Ruis, who joins the partnership’s executive team on 15 January, has over 30 years of leadership experience at a number of leading retailers and brands.
He was most recently chief executive at Indigo in Canada, helping lead the business through the pandemic. Prior to that he led Anthropologie’s international drive as managing director, and was chief executive at Jigsaw for four years.
Ruis previously worked at John Lewis between 2005 and 2013 as buying and brand director. His ealry career included roles at M&S, Ted Baker, and Levi Strauss Europe.
He said: “It’s a great privilege to return to the John Lewis Partnership after 10 years. The John Lewis brand is iconic, loved and trusted by millions of customers across the UK and I’m excited to lead the next phase of the transformation.
“As the biggest employee-owned business in the UK, we have a huge opportunity to make even more of the unique Partner difference to provide exceptional products and service for our customers.”
Nish Kankiwala, CEO of the John Lewis Partnership, added: “It’s fantastic to welcome Peter back to the Partnership. He has a deep understanding of customers, brands and product from his 30 year career spanning a variety of major high street and online retailers.
“He also brings a clear and proven passion for the John Lewis brand and the Partnership model, and I have no doubt he will be integral to our future success.”
Meanwhile Naomi Simcock, who had stepped up as interim executive director for John Lewis following Pippa Wick’s departure, has been appointed into a new role as operations director for John Lewis. She will take responsibility for John Lewis’ retail and supply chain.
Kankiwala said: “I’d like to extend my enormous thanks to Naomi for her unwavering commitment and leadership of the John Lewis teams and business this past year. Naomi will do a brilliant job leading our retail and supply chain teams, working closely with Peter and the John Lewis leadership team.”
Simcock added said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed stepping in to lead John Lewis and working with partners across the business to deliver the quality, value and service our customers expect. I’m looking forward to continuing to be part of the John Lewis leadership team, supporting our partners and ensuring our department stores and supply chain continue to deliver for our customers.”