Coup for M&S as Bolland lands Weir for CFO role

Helen Weir, who spent her early career at Unilever and McKinsey

Ms Weir, who previously held senior executive roles at Lloyds Banking Group, Kingfisher and B&Q, will join the board as chief finance officer on a date to be confirmed.

Marc Bolland, chief executive at M&S, said: “We are delighted to be appointing Helen as CFO.

“She is extremely well qualified, and brings a wealth of relevant financial, retail and consumer experience.

“We look forward to her joining the M&S team.”

Ms Weir is currently in the same role at the John Lewis Partnership. She joined John Lewis in 2012 from Lloyds, where she spent eight years.

She said: “M&S is one of the UK’s great brands. This is an exciting time to be joining the company and I am delighted to be part of the team.”

Ms Weir was a strong advocate for the Halifax brand and its Yorkshire operations following the HBOS merger with Lloyds in 2008.

In her new role, she will receive a basic annual salary of £590,000 and a one-off payment of £188,500 to compensate for the differential in contractual pension that she is forfeiting to join M&S.

A further award for 2014/15 annual bonus foregone may also be taken into consideration, said M&S.