Kirsty Ward is set to rejoin M&S as its new director of M&S Bank and services.
She will assume the role on 19 November having previously been head of product management when its banking business was M&S Money between 2004 and 2009. M&S Money was rebranded as M&S Bank when it became a subsidiary of HSBC in 2012.
Ward joins M&S from Walmart, where she was VP of financial services for almost four years based in its Arkansas HQ. She was also Asda’s senior director of financial services and mobile from 2009 to 2014, and head of Advantage Card at Boots for seven years from 1997.
Ward will also be responsible for M&S Energy, particularly driving innovation, growth and the digital development across both brands, working closely with M&S’s partners HSBC and Octopus for M&S Energy.
Her appointment comes as part of M&S’s transformation of its operational and leadership team to place greater focus and accountability on its energy and banking businesses, and as M&S Bank restructures its branch management team, with dozens of jobs under threat.
“There is huge potential for the brand to become more relevant, more often to our existing customers and appeal to new customers. I’m excited to be part of the M&S family again at such an important time in the business’s transformation,” said Ward.
She will report to M&S’s strategy director Mel Smith.
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