Stefan Barden, formerly of Brakes and Northern Foods - where is he now?

Name: Stefan Barden

Was: CEO of Brakes

Now: CEO of Wiggle

Career background: Barden started his career as a graduate at Unilever. He went on to work as a consultant at McKinsey and then general manager of Iceland’s grocery business. He joined Heinz in 2003 as MD for the UK & Ireland - a role he held for two years. In January 2006, he moved to Northern Foods as executive director of the company’s chilled division. A year later, he replaced Pat O’Driscoll as CEO. He remained in that role until November 2010 when he was named CEO of Brakes. But he left Brakes in January 2012 when his role was axed in a management restructure.

What is he doing now? Earlier this month, Barden resurfaced as CEO of Wiggle, the online sports retailer. Speaking at the time of his appointment, former Asda CEO Andy Bond, who is chairman of Wiggle, said: “Stefan’s international experience and leadership of large-scale businesses will be especially relevant during this next phase of our geographic expansion as the business invests in the build-out of its operations as well as in its infrastructure and customer experience.”

At Northern Foods and Brakes: Barden had a rough ride. At Brakes, he joined in a year its parent company reported a 37% increase in losses to £93.7m. At Northern Foods, a series of poor financial results and a slow-moving recovery plan left analysts warning their patience was wearing thin. He left a week after Northern Foods announced plans to merge with Greencore - a merger that never came to fruition. Northern was instead bought by 2 Sisters.

What’s next? Although Barden told The Grocer that his “passion for the food industry” had attracted him to Brakes, he’ll be able to focus on the other passion in his life at Wiggle. He is a triathlon enthusiast and Ironman competitor.