The former CEO of a Manchester-based HealthTech has been appointed as chief growth officer at the Co-op as part of a number of executive changes at the retail giant.
Wais Shaifta, who led Push Doctor from 2018-2021, has taken up the role after spending seven months on the company’s board as a non-executive director, a role which he will now relinquish.
He left Push Doctor over four years ago – months before the firm narrowly avoided administration by becoming a division and trading brand of Square Health.
Since then, Shaifta has sat on the board of several businesses, including Snappy Shopper, Reach plc and The Gym Group – the latter of which he serves as chair of the remuneration committee.
In his new role, he will be tasked with driving the company’s future growth agenda, which includes working on its strategy, corporate development, B2B business development and insight teams.
He will also look into potential new ventures for the business.
His appointment is one of several key changes in the retail firm’s leadership team.
Jerome Saint-Marc, the firm’s managing director for growth, will leave to pursue further opportunities outside of the business.
This means that Katie Secretan, managing director for Co-op Wholesale, will report directly to CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq and will join Co-op’s operating board.
Meanwhile, current Co-op Food managing director, Matt Hood, will lead a new group commercial and logistics division within the business as chief commercial and logistics officer and will continue his role on the operating board.
The restructure comes months after the company announced that its profits had risen to £161m from £28m in its latest financial year.