Paul Mills-Hicks, food director, Sainsbury's (30)

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Paul Mills-Hicks

Food director, Sainsbury’s

Last ranked: 38

With no little rigour - and far less fuss than Tesco’s ‘Project Reset’ - Mills-Hicks has reappraised Sainsbury’s range and pricing architecture to give its shopper a simpler and more competitive price and promotion offer - and based on its results over the past year it’s paying off.

A continued focus on premium own label also tempted consumers to splash the cash on new and improved Taste the Difference lines, delivering £1.1bn in sales - up nearly 5% over the year.

And efforts to reignite struggling categories with the Love Your Freezer campaign show the food director thinking outside the box to achieve growth.