Iceland has appointed Ian Williams as its new stores and operations director.
Williams has moved from the role of new business and international director for the frozen food specialist.
Meanhwile, stores director Paul Rowland is leaving the business.
The news comes amid a management restructure threatening jobs at Iceland.
Williams is taking up a role he has held before during a career at Iceland spanning more than two decades. He was previously stores and operations director from 1999 to 2011.
“Second time around so I am looking forward to the challenge,” he wrote of his latest appointment on LinkedIn.
After his first stint as stores and operations director, Williams was MD of Iceland Ireland from 2013 until 2014. He later worked as a consultant helping Iceland MD Richard Walker develop The Food Warehouse.
He became new business and international director in February last year, a role in which he has looked after the relationship with home and garden chain The Range, leading to the rollout of Iceland concessions.
Before joining Iceland, Williams spent 20 years at Sainsbury’s, including as a store manager.
Rowland was previously operations director at Bestway Wholesale. He has also held a number of senior posts at Asda, including senior director – supermarkets and petrol forecourt stores.
Iceland did not comment on Williams’ appointment.
The company has confirmed a management structure review is underway but denied reports hundreds of jobs are at risk.
“Like every other retailer, we regularly review our management structure to ensure that we are running our business as efficiently and economically as possible,” a spokesman said last week. “Such a review has recently begun but it is an ongoing process and no decisions have yet been taken as a result of it.”
He said there were no plans for “major reductions in its UK workforce of more than 25,000 people and absolutely no plans to reduce the number of staff employed in its stores”.
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