{"id":864461,"date":"2026-06-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=864461"},"modified":"2026-06-24T09:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:53:21","slug":"end-of-an-era-for-woolworths-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/864461\/end-of-an-era-for-woolworths-2\/","title":{"rendered":"End of an era for Woolworths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Woolworths Group CEO Sam Ngumeni has announced a series of leadership changes, with the group looking to end an operating model that has not kept pace with its ambitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ngumeni took over as group CEO at the start of the month, succeeding Roy Bagattini. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He previously served as group COO, Woolworths Food CEO, group Director of HR & Transformation, and Woolworths Financial Services CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ngumeni has now announced a renewal of the group’s leadership and organisational structure, aiming to build agility, resilience, and the ability to execute and support growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said the changes follow Ngumeni’s assessment that the organisation’s operating model has not kept pace with its ambition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Woolworths needs clear accountability without ambiguity, decisions made closer to where value is created, and the ability to move faster,” the group said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The revised organisational design is driven by a conviction that accountability must sit where execution happens.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has seen the departure of two executives: Spencer Sonn, outgoing Chief Customer Officer, and Nuholt Huisamen, outgoing CEO of Fashion, Beauty and Home (FBH).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With effect from 1 July 2026, the Food Division will be led by new CEO Chan Pillay, the current Commercial Director for Food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FBH will be led by Manie Maritz, current CEO of Woolworths Ventures, who has agreed to defer his retirement and lead the FBH business during this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new Chief Operating Officer role will also be created for Bradley Nitsckie, current Chief Supply Chain Officer, who will run the group’s retail operations, supply chains and logistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IT Services Division will also consolidate online, IT, Data & Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Cyber Security into a single Digital and Technology Division led by Christie Koorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that given the importance of the group’s brand, a Chief Marketing Officer role has been created, which will be led by Simphiwe Pato, who will also oversee sustainability and loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woolworths Ventures is also now being integrated into the core business, having fulfilled its incubation mandate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This will see WEdit move into FBH; WCellar moves into Food; and Absolute Pets continue reporting to its board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food Services, which includes WCaf\u00e9 and Now Now, will move to a Strategy portfolio, with Chris Brikkels, current Head of Strategy Execution for Food, appointed as Director of Strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several leaders stay on <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Woolworths Group CEO Sam Ngumeni<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe new organisational design brings accountability closer to where value is created and equips the Group with the right people in the right roles,” said Ngumeni. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have full confidence in my executive leadership team and will rely on each of them to fulfil our ambition and move us forward as an organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a host of other changes have been made at the group, the following divisions and their leadership remain unchanged:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Finance is led by Chief Financial Officer, Zaid Manjra.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • People is led by Group People Director, Melanie Naidu.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Governance, Risk and Compliance is led by Chantel Reddiar, Group Company Secretary & Director: Governance, Risk, Legal, Compliance, Corporate Affairs & Communications.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Country Road Group is led by CEO, Steven Cook.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Woolworths believes that the new organisational design will simplify operations, eliminate duplication and realign portfolios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “These changes will drive stronger trading momentum and more effective, efficient operations across the group,” it said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Woolworths Group has announced a series of leadership changes, with the group looking to inject life back into its business. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":854136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[949],"class_list":["post-864461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864472,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864461\/revisions\/864472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}