Department store David Jones has welcomed a new group executive of retail services, as two of its former executives bow out.
The newly-created position of group executive of retail services will be filled by Antony Karp, and will incorporate Karp's current role and responsibilities as head of retail – comprising property, procurement and environmental initiatives – with the head of information technology role.
Karp will replace David Jones' former group executive of information technology, Karen McLachlan, who has resigned.
McLachlan is joined by Reg Clairs, one of David Jones' non-executive directors, who will also depart the company after retiring from the board, effective from February 29.
In a statement, David Jones said the group had been prepared for these “future transitions”, and had increased its number of directors at the company from the time of Philippa Stone's appointment as non-executive director. Stone was appointed as non-executive director at David Jones on March 9 2010.
David Jones said the creation of the group executive of retail services role “reflects the company's focus on transforming into an integrated multi-channel retailer that recognises the importance of customer shopping as and when they want, utilising their channel of preference. By combining the group executive retail development and information technology roles, the company has aligned its management structure and resources to ensure a well managed transformation”.