Pippa Wicks | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 December 1962 |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | University of Oxford |
| Occupation | Businesswoman |
| Title | Executive Director |
| Term | August 2020 - 2023 |
| Predecessor | Paula Nickolds |
| Successor | Peter Ruis |
Pippa Wicks (born 18 December 1962) is a British businesswoman, and the former executive director of John Lewis & Partners.
Wicks was born on 18 December 1962 to a father employed in marketing at the chemicals company Imperial Chemical Industries, and a mother who was a justice of the peace. During her early teens, her family moved to Buckinghamshire. She attended Lady Verney High School in High Wycombe. [1] She studied zoology at the University of Oxford, [2] [3] and later studied at the London Business School. [3]
She is married and has a son and two stepdaughters. [1]
Wicks has worked for Bain & Company. [2] In 1993, she left Bain to become finance director at Courtaulds Textiles. [4] Wicks later worked for a business education company, Pearson, before moving to consultancy firm AlixPartners. [2] [1] Wicks was later hired by The Co-operative Group as interim chief operating officer. [5] [6] When Wicks joined the Co-operative Group, the company's future was uncertain. [7] At The Co-operative Group, Wicks earned over one million pounds a year. [8] In 2017, Wicks was appointed deputy chief executive officer of The Co-operative Group in a restructure following Richard Pennycook's resignation as CEO. [9] Wicks was an advocate of The Co-operative Group setting up a programme to employ victims of modern slavery, giving them a four-week paid work experience placement. [10] In 2019, whilst Wicks was deputy CEO, Co-op Insurance was merged with Markerstudy Group at a cost of £185 million. [11]
In June 2020, Wicks was announced as the new head of John Lewis & Partners, a British department store which is part of the John Lewis Partnership group. [2] [12] The role has been separated from the previous joint role of head of John Lewis and Waitrose. [12] Wicks took up the position in August 2020, [2] [13] and succeeded Paula Nickolds as head of John Lewis & Partners. [2] At the time of her appointment, she was one of five women on the board of the John Lewis Partnership. [2] Wicks left John Lewis & Partners in February 2023. [14] Wicks was instrumental in the 'ditching' of the organisation's century-old 'Never Knowingly Undersold' pledge. [15] On 5 September 2024 it was announced that John Lewis were bringing back Never Knowingly Undersold. [16] [17]