Kingfisher : strengthens Customer & Digital team with two new appointments

Sienne Veit appointed as Group Digital Product & Platform Director; Tom Betts appointed as Group Data Director

Kingfisher, the international home improvement retailer, today announces two new appointments to its Customer & Digital team. Sienne Veit joins as Group Digital Product & Platform Director and Tom Betts as Group Data Director.

Sienne joined Kingfisher on 1 June from the John Lewis Partnership, where she was Digital Director. Tom will join the business in September from the Financial Times, where he was Chief Data Officer.

Both positions are new to Kingfisher, in recognition of the vital roles that e-commerce and big data will play in the delivery of its new strategy, announced in June. Under the strategy, Kingfisher will invest in digital technology to build new customer propositions and drive growth across its retail operations throughout Europe, which include B&Q and Screwfix in the UK and Castorama and Brico Dépôt in France.

Sienne and Tom join the team led by JJ Van Oosten, Kingfisher's Chief Customer & Digital Officer, to build a leading digital-first proposition by accelerating data and e-commerce capabilities across Kingfisher's retail banners.

As Group Digital Product & Platform Director, Sienne will bring together Kingfisher's key customer mobile, click & collect and home delivery services, including store-based home delivery, into a scalable, agile and product-based platform.

Sienne spent nearly six years at the John Lewis Partnership where, as Digital Director for John Lewis & Partners, she was responsible for e-commerce trading, product development and design. In an earlier role at John Lewis she was responsible for the retailer's website, apps and digital in-store technology.

As Group Data Director, Tom will develop a consolidated strategy to accelerate Kingfisher's customer data capabilities at Group level, that will enable each of our retail banners to optimise its data capabilities and drive growth.

Tom spent five years at the Financial Times as Chief Data Officer, where he was a member of the executive board. He was responsible for the acceleration of digital growth catalysed by data and was a key architect in the transformation of its print-led business into a digital-first model. Prior to that he spent time on secondment at Pearson, the former owner of the Financial Times, where he held senior roles in data, customer analytics and research in their education businesses.

Commenting on the appointments, JJ Van Oosten, Kingfisher's Chief Customer & Digital Officer, said: 'I am delighted to welcome Sienne and Tom to the digital team we are building here at Kingfisher. They will both bring significant experience to the business as we accelerate our data capabilities and e-commerce proposition for our customers.'