Michael Andrew Coupe (born 26 September 1960) is a British businessman who was the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

J Sainsbury plc 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 ...

, parent company of the supermarket chain Sainsbury's, from July 2014 until the end of May 2020.

Early life

Coupe was born in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, Hertfordshire in 1960. He grew up in

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. Coupe received a bachelor's degree in Physics from the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

in 1982.

Career

Coupe began his career at

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

, where he became assistant brand manager for Flora margarine. Coupe joined Sainsbury's in 2004. In 2010, he became responsible for the marketing, trading and online operations of the company. In January 2014, Sainsbury's then CEO Justin King announced Coupe as his successor, after stating that he would be leaving the role in June 2014. Soon after Coupe's appointment, he announced a strategic review that aimed to address the challenges caused by a changing retail market. In 2016 he led the takeover of

Home Retail Group Home Retail Group plc was a home and general merchandise retailer based in the United Kingdom. It was the parent company of Argos and Habitat, and once owned the do it yourself chain Homebase before selling it to the Australian retailer Wesfarme ...

which included Argos and

Habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. In March 2018 he announced new pay arrangements for colleagues. Coupe oversaw digital transformation and investment at Sainsbury’s, including the introduction of the UK's first till-free stores and the digitisation of the

Nectar loyalty card Nectar is a loyalty card scheme in the United Kingdom run by Nectar 360 Ltd, a company wholly owned by Sainsbury's. The scheme is the largest in the United Kingdom, and comprises a number of partner companies including Sainsbury's, Esso and eBay. ...

through a new app and website. In January 2020 it was announced that Coupe would retire from his position at the end of May 2020, to be succeeded by Simon Roberts, the company's head of retail and operations. In October 2020, Coupe took a three-month appointment as head of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

infection testing at

NHS Test and Trace NHS Test and Trace is a government-funded service in England, established in 2020 to track and help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Despite its name, the programme was never in fact run by the NHS: the programme is part of the UK Health Secu ...

, an outsourced agency created by the government in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, before being appointed a non-executive director of

NHS England NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the ...

from January 2021. In 2022 the

Runnymede Trust The Runnymede Trust is a race equality think tank in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1968 by Jim Rose and Anthony Lester as an independent source for generating intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain through research, network building, ...

won a High Court action that the public sector equality duty had not been complied in this appointment, with the trust suggesting that people outside the acquaintance of senior Conservative politicians were not considered. Additionally in January 2021 it was announced that Coupe had been appointed as chairman of

Oak Furniture Land Oak Furnitureland is a British furniture retailer specialising in fully assembled hardwood cabinet and dining furniture, and sofa ranges. The company has stores across the UK, with its headquarters located in Swindon in Wiltshire, England. His ...

. In July 2021 Coupe was announced as chairman of Harding Brothers Retail Limited.

Personal life

He married Jill Parkinson in

Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the Lo ...

in May 1990, and they have two daughters. In recent years he has lived in the Holgate area of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

but he frequently travels between London and Yorkshire. He is a keen guitarist and also enjoys photography and cycling. Coupe became a life patron for

GroceryAid GroceryAid is a registered (1095897) benevolent society for people from all over the United Kingdom who have worked, or are working in the grocery industry, and who find they need extra support to get by. Founded in 1857 the National Grocers Benevo ...

in August 2015. He was previously the fundraising president from 2012 to 2014.

Controversies

In April 2018, Coupe took part in interviews in relation to a forthcoming merger between

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 ...

and

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

-owned UK subsidiary

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 Yorks ...

. After the first interview, during the transition to the next, his microphone remained switched on and he began singing " We're in the Money". The video was widely shared and critiqued. Coupe later released a statement apologising for his "unfortunate choice of song, from the musical 42nd Street", which he had seen the previous year. Sainsbury's issued a further statement: "We all know these songs stay in your head. To attach any wider meaning to this innocent, personal moment is preposterous." When the merger failed to get approvals, he accused the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

of having "fundamentally moved the goalposts... changed the shape of the ball and chosen a completely different playing field" in its analysis. He said that with "a completely unpredictable set of competition rules, who would invest in this country?", telling

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

: "This is just outrageous". In 2019 he was criticised for reducing the amount traditionally paid towards a Christmas party for Argos colleagues, when he sought to bring it in line with money paid towards the Sainsbury’s Christmas party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coupe, Mike 1960 births Living people Alumni of the University of Birmingham British retail chief executives English businesspeople in retailing English chief executives People from Watford People from Horsham District Sainsbury's people