UK department store John Lewis has announced that its operations director will retire.
Dino Rocos, who has responsibility for both supply chain and fulfilment at the retailer, will step down at the end of May.
Finance director Bérangère Michel will take on the role, with a replacement currently being sought for her position. In the meantime it will be filled by head of finance Andy Mounsey.
John Lewis MD Paula Nickolds said: “I can’t overemphasise the scale of the contribution Dino has made to John Lewis – he has transformed every element of our supply chain to create the distribution network we enjoy today.”
Board member Rocos joined John Lewis 43 years ago, working initially in sales and production before moving into the supply chain.
Working as operations director since 2010 and director of distribution for the eight years before that, he has overseen the company’s increasing shift from a store-based model into omnichannel retail.
The director has driven the launch of the company’s first distribution centres, which now number seven across the country, and championed the use of technologies such as automation. In 2018, the company delivered 17 million John Lewis customer orders across the UK from its distribution centres, with the year seeing the launch of two hour delivery slots and online order tracking.
In a 2015 interview with eDelivery, Rocos explained how the retailer mitigates risk through rigorous testing. He explained how operating as a partnership meant John Lewis could make longer term investment decisions.
