Leaders at Co-op have announced that a new Chief Procurement Officer will join from Monday 5 June.
Imran Rasul will take responsibility for leading the whole procurement team from Claire Costello – who moved into the Chief People and Inclusion Officer role at Co-op last year, while continuing to oversee Procurement.
He will support across the whole of Co-op Group – including retail, life services (Legal Services, Insurance and Funeralcare businesses) Nisa and ventures – to deliver the best possible value.
His role includes leading and delivering supplier engagement plans in support of Co-op’s ambitions to grow as a business and increase active members by one million over the next five years. He will also have responsibility for the end-to-end risk management for all third-party Goods Not for Resale spend as well as driving inclusion, ethical and responsible sourcing agendas, aligned to the Group’s ‘Co-operating for a Fairer World’ vision.
Rasul joins from Nationwide Building Society, where he was CPO, and brings with him a wealth of experience from previous senior procurement roles in large organisations including BAE Systems, BT Openreach and GlaxoSmithKline.
On the appointment, he said:
“I’m very much looking forward to being part of Co-op, as a Group which makes such a significant impact in its marketplaces, but also in the communities it serves. The Procurement team are so well respected and I’m already beyond proud to be leading them.”
Costello said:
“As a co-operative business, we’re so pleased to have Imran join us from Nationwide – another member-owned organisation. I know his impressive commercial acumen and leadership will come with an exceptional understanding of how to prioritise our members and their best interests.”
Rasul will report into new Chief Financial Officer Rachel Izzard, who will be in position from the following Monday (11 June.)
