JD Sports COO Sherilyn Paterson is to leave the retailer after a 12 year stint at the sportswear giant, Retail Gazette has learnt.
Paterson, who was promoted to chief operating officer last year, is understood to be stepping down for personal reasons.
During her 12 year tenure, she has held roles including merchandising director and group operations director, before taking the COO post.
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Paterson, who was previous head of merchandising at retailers including Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Kurt Geiger, has helped to grow JD Sports into a £10bn business.
Despite a dip in profits in its last financial year when it was hit by a “challenging market”, the retailer’s profit before tax and adjusting items still surpassed £900m in the year to 3 February.
CEO Régis Schultz insisted that JD Sports had “outperformed the market” in terms of sales growth over the last year and said that the first quarter of its current financial year was “in line with expectations in a volatile market”.
The sportswear retailer opened more than 200 new stores over the period, with plans for over 200 more in its current financial year.
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