Southern Co-op CEO Mark Smith has announced plans to retire in June, and focus on non-executive roles.
Smith, who has led the co-op since 2009, will be succeeded in the role by Ben Stimson, who moves from his role as chief operating officer at the Bank of England.
Southern chair Dame Janet Paraskeva said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Mark for his outstanding leadership over more than 15 years.
“During his time as CEO, he’s more than doubled the size of our business. In addition to significantly growing our convenience store estate, he’s successfully taken the society into the hospitality sector, where he’s built one of the largest Starbucks franchises in the country from scratch.
“Similarly, Mark has driven the diversification of our funeral care business into completely new markets, building new operations that now directly deliver several thousand cremations and natural burials each year.”
Related: Southern Co-op reports a return to trading profit of £75k
Smith has also stated a strong personal commitment to sustainability, and saw the co-op achieve the Queens Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development in 2022.
“Being able to lead this amazing group of businesses with a 150-year history has been a huge privilege.,” he said. “Everything that’s been achieved reflects the talent and hard work of an incredible team of more than 4,000 people who make Southern Co-op what it is today. It’s been a pleasure working with the team on delivering such a wide range of plans.”
His replacement Stimson has a range of consumer experience including leadership roles at Waitrose, where he served as retail director and digital director, and previously, at Sky.
“Ben will bring his very wide range of consumer and leadership experience to the role of CEO,” said Dame Janet. “This will be hugely valuable as he works with the board to develop plans for the medium term and beyond, building on the success of recent years to ensure our co-op remains relevant and successful in the long term.”
Stimson added: “I’m delighted to be joining such a purpose led business with strong foundations and a clear sense of its future. I look forward to picking up Mark’s impressive legacy and working with the team to deliver the next stage in Southern Co-op’s future evolution.”
