SimplyFresh has hired Steve Drake as commercial director.
Drake took up his position on the board of directors on 1 September after already working with the retailer for several months as an independent retail consultant.
“I am delighted he has accepted our invitation to come on board as our commercial director,” said CEO Tim Chalk.
“Steve has been pivotal in trialling and developing our new business model with Sainsbury’s and as we bring our offer to market he is best placed to deliver this most compelling strategic partnership to our retailers.
“Steve brings a diverse retail background and an infectious professionalism to SimplyFresh and SimplyLocal and I know the team is energised by his appointment.”
Drake carries more than two decades of retailing experience after working in senior strategy, commercial, offer development and operations roles.
In 2006, as the head of European convenience retail for Shell Retail, he was responsible for improving the focus of the business and leveraged scale across 4,000 company-owned stores in 20 markets.
In 2011, he was appointed regional operations director for Co-op Food where he was responsible for 600 multi-format food stores in the south west and Wales.
Drake then joined BP in 2016 to lead its convenience retail partnerships programme with grocery retailers in Europe.
He co-designed the new global partnership strategy and commercial framework, while closely supporting local country teams to deliver the implementation across 10 markets.
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