Stuart Machin (born 1970) is a British business executive and the chief executive (CEO) of

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 ...

. He became CEO on 25 May 2022 when Steve Rowe stepped down. Machin is responsible for day-to-day leadership, with

Katie Bickerstaffe Katie Bickerstaffe is the co-CEO of 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, L ...

as co-CEO in charge of online operations and data. Reuters called this an "unconventional leadership structure".

Education

Machin joined the retail management scheme at

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 ...

when he was 18. In 2013, he attended the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

advanced management program (AMP).

Career

Machin started his career in retailing as a teenage shelf stacker at a

Savacentre in

Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre Hempstead is a village near Gillingham, Kent in South East England. Historically a small hamlet, Hempstead grew throughout the 20th century to become part of the urban area of the Medway Towns. Hempstead is located on the southern edge of the U ...

outside

Gillingham, Kent Gillingham ( ) is a large town in the unitary authority area of Medway in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. It is also the largest town in the ...

. He worked for

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

and

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...

in increasingly senior roles, followed by ten years in Australia working for the

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

conglomerate as operations director of Coles and managing director of

Target Australia Target Australia Pty Ltd (formerly Lindsay's and Lindsay's Target, formerly stylised as Target. and doing business as Target and Target Australia) is a department store chain owned by Australian retail conglomerate Wesfarmers. Target stocks c ...

. He resigned as managing director of Coles in April 2016 because of accounting irregularities that he was unaware of but "happened on iswatch". He then became CEO of Steinhoff UK, before being headhunted to join

(M&S) as managing director (MD) of its food division.

M&S

Machin joined M&S in May 2018. According to the ''Retail Gazette'', at the time, M&S food had been underperforming, and Machin managed to get it "firing on all cylinders again". In February 2019, M&S announced it was paying £750m for a 50% stake in a joint venture called Ocado Retail Limited, replacing Ocado's previous retail partner

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

which had recently started its own standalone food delivery proposition. As part of the deal, Machin became a non-executive director of the new joint venture. In May 2021, Machin was given the additional role of joint chief operating officer (COO), alongside

. This saw Machin assume responsibility for HR, IT, Property & Store Development, and Central & Store Operations, in addition to his role as food MD. In March 2022, it was announced that Machin would succeed Steve Rowe as CEO of M&S, while Bickerstaffe would become co-CEO. Machin assumed his new role on 25 May 2022 and joined the board. Upon becoming CEO, Machin launched "Straight to Stuart", a scheme that allows staff to share views and ideas with him for improving M&S. Two ideas quickly adopted by Machin were Megan Tomkies' suggestion that staff with a stammer or speech impediment could wear a corresponding symbol on their lapel badges, and

Bowel cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

survivor Cara Hoofe's suggestion to have Bowel Cancer symptoms listed on toilet roll packaging and in store toilets. In August 2022, Machin said that London's

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as ...

was in danger of becoming a "dinosaur district destined for extinction", and has been vocal in support of the controversial planned demolition and redevelopment of M&S's flagship store there, close to

Marble Arch The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash (architect), John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near th ...

Personal life

Machin lives in south London, and his hobbies are music, theatre, politics, food, fashion, and walking his dog, Kostas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Machin, Stuart Living people British retail chief executives British businesspeople in retailing Marks & Spencer people Sainsbury's people Tesco people Walmart people Target Corporation people British chief operating officers 1971 births