The Business
JD Sports is an international multichannel retailer of sports, fashion and outdoor brands, based in Bury, Greater Manchester. Trading across the UK, Europe, APAC and the USA, they have around 500 stores in the UK and a further 1,700 outlets worldwide. Annual turnover in 2019 reached £4.7bn, but the business had a growing requirement for Non-Executive Director recruitment.
The Challenge
JD Sports Group embarked on a search for a Non-Executive Director. A previous search had proven unsuccessful due to the culture fit requirement. ORESA were commissioned to identify a suitable candidate. The key challenge was to think differently about the search and consider alternative avenues to look for the right level of individual who had a strong culture, experience and knowledge fit to bring added value to a seasoned board of retail professionals. In addition, the candidate was required to have a good understanding of their customer.
The Solution
We were briefed by the Executive Chairman in order to understand the challenge and requirements better. By using our deep UK retail and cross-sector networks, ORESA were able to provide an alternative shortlist of candidates who would bring new skills and experience to the board. The successful candidate was selected and successfully recruited to the PLC board as a Non-Executive Director – their depth of experience in enterprise architecture and systems would benefit the group as they embarked on a rapid growth journey, opening new businesses and growing through M&A and internationally, and their strong governance experience and background in multichannel and fashion retailing ensured they had the composite skills for the job. The individual continues to serve on the board after their promotion from the FTSE 250 to FTSE 100.
