Simon John Roberts (born 26 January 1971) is a British businessman, and the chief executive officer (CEO) of

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

since 1 June 2020, having previously been retail operations director. He is a former managing director of

Boots UK Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand an ...

Early life

He was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, and brought up in

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

, attending Purley Sixth Form College.

Career

He started his career working for

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

(M&S) aged 16. He was at M&S for fifteen years, becoming a senior manager in 1998.

Boots UK

He joined

in 2003 as regional director of the south region. He was the joint chief operating officer from 2011, with Ken Murphy. He became managing director of Boots UK (health and beauty) on 1 October 2013, with Ken Murphy (from

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

) becoming managing director of Boots International. Roberts left Boots in June 2016 "to pursue new opportunities".

Sainsbury's

In September 2016, it was announced that he would be joining

as retail and operations director. In January 2020, he was appointed CEO effective 1 June 2020, following the impending retirement of

Mike Coupe Michael Andrew Coupe (born 26 September 1960) is a British businessman who was the CEO of J Sainsbury plc, parent company of the supermarket chain Sainsbury's, from July 2014 until the end of May 2020. Early life Coupe was born in Watford, Her ...

. Roberts also became the CEO of

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

Personal life

He works with

Business in the Community Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales). BITC work ...

References

External links

Corporate website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Simon 1971 births Living people British business executives Businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry English businesspeople in retailing People from Purley, London Businesspeople from London Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom