Morrisons has confirmed the appointment of Daniel Beecham as its new chief information officer.
Currently CIO of Australian retailer Woolworths, Beecham will be moving to the UK in January when he will start a lengthy induction period. Interim CIO Adrian Stanbury will continue in his role during this induction period.
Beecham has been at Woolworths since 2007 and Morrisons said he had a track record of leading systems transformation there.
“Dan has proven experience of delivering an IT infrastructure that can support a large multichannel, multi-format business and he will help us to exploit the technological opportunities that will make Morrisons fit for the future,” said group finance director Trevor Strain.
Beecham’s arrival will coincide with Morrisons’ much vaunted online grocery debut, which launches in January through its high-profile tie-up with Ocado.
Morrisons is also on the verge of completing a £310m overhaul of its IT systems – due to be finished at the end of this year.
Earlier this year, CEO Dalton Philips said the investment was a radical evolution.
For a retailer he described it as “the most advanced building of technology systems in the world”.
“What we will have done when it is completed at the end of the year is leapfrogged an entire generation of tech,” he explained.
