Our leadership team has extensive combined experience in apparel, general merchandise and discount grocery.

Our Board

 

Executives

Andy Bond

Executive Chair

Neil Galloway

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Non-Executives

Neil Brown

Vice Chair

Sean Mahoney

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Paul Soldatos

Non-Executive Director

María Fernanda Mejía

Non-Executive Director

Grazyna Piotrowska-Oliwa

Non-Executive Director

Brendan Connolly

Non-Executive Director

Andy Bond

Executive Chair

Andy has an extensive retail career, focused on the discount sector, having been Chief Executive Officer of Pepco Group until his retirement from the role in January 2022. Prior to this, Andy was Chief Operating Officer and later Chief Executive Officer of Asda between 2005 and 2010, and Chair from 2011. Earlier in his career, Andy acted as corporate marketing director and managing director of George clothing.

Neil Galloway

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Neil Galloway joined Pepco Group as CFO in April 2023.  He is an experienced public company CFO who has worked in senior finance and commercial roles at multi-national businesses over the last 15 years, following an 18 year career in investment banking.  Prior to Pepco Neil was Executive Vice President at IWG plc and led the corporate finance and business development activities.  From 2013 to 2019 Neil was Group Finance Director at DFI Retail Group, the international multi-format retailer based in Hong Kong and operating across 11 markets in Asia.  Prior to that he was Group Finance Director of The Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels Limited.  He is also a Non-Executive Director of AVI Global Trust plc, a FTSE 250 investment trust.

Neil Brown

Vice Chair

Neil has extensive global experience in corporate restructurings, private equity and dispute resolution and wide international commercial board experience. He has held a number of chairman, director and committee positions in international organisations including Magma Fincorp India, Gategroup, Iceland Foods and Islandsbanki. Earlier in his career Neil helped to build the successful financial services arm of Apax Partners. He acted as a special advisor to the Senior Oversight Committee of the Asset Protection Scheme, operated by an executive arm of HM Treasury. Neil is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a former corporate finance partner at PwC and Deloitte.

Sean Mahoney

NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Sean has extensive experience serving as a board director for large public and private companies across Europe and the US including currently at Aptiv plc and Tailored Brands, and previously at Howmet Aerospace, Alcoa, Formula One Holdings and iHeartMedia. Prior to his board director roles, he worked in investment banking for more than two decades, primarily at Goldman Sachs, where he was a partner and Head of the Financial Sponsors Group.

Paul Soldatos

Non-Executive Director

Paul is a Board member and senior advisor in the industrial, service and consumer/retail sectors. He has international experience in M&A, strategic assessment, organisational transformation and financial restructuring with a focus on the US and Europe. Paul has served and is serving as chairman or member of the audit, remuneration, governance and nomination committees for a number of companies for which he is a board member. Paul previously was a partner and member of the management committee of AEA Investors LP in AEA’s London office.

María Fernanda Mejía

Non-Executive Director

María Fernanda has broad and deep experience and expertise in general management including strategy development, operations, supply chain and talent development.  She stepped down as CEO International at Newell Brands in February 2023.  Until February 2020, she served for more than eight years as corporate officer and executive committee member at the Kellogg Company, with her final roles being senior vice president and president of Kellogg Latin America.  Prior to this, María Fernanda spent 23 years at the Colgate-Palmolive Company in global marketing and senior management roles within developed and emerging markets.  Until February 2022, María Fernanda was a non-executive director of Bunzl plc, where she was a member of the audit, remuneration and nomination committees; and a non-executive director and member of the audit and risk committee at Grocery Outlet, a US discount detailer.  Prior to this, she served as a non-executive director of International Consolidated Airlines Group from 2014 to 2020, including as a member of the audit and compliance and remuneration committees

Grazyna Piotrowska-Oliwa

Non-Executive Director

Grazyna has strong experience across government and business both in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe. At the start of her career, Grazyna spent four years at the Polish Ministry of the State Treasury, where she headed two different divisions. With a proven track record in some of Poland’s WIG20 companies, Grazyna brings 20 years’ experience working on C-level for Telekomunikacja Polska and PTK Centertel (now Orange Polska), PZU (on the supervisory board), PKN Orlen,  PGNiG, as well as  chief executive officer and president of the management board of Virgin Mobile Poland/CEE, following a period advising private companies and private equity funds. Grazyna is co-owner and CEO/Chairman of renowned e-commerce platforms Grupa Modne Zakupy and RentPlanet.

Brendan Connolly

Non-Executive Director

With extensive executive and non-executive experience, Brendan brings extensive operational, commercial and strategic expertise and insights to Pepco Group. He is a non-executive director at Victrex and Synthomer, where he is also senior independent director and chair of the remuneration committee, respectively. Brendan has more than 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas and the testing and inspection industries. He was a senior executive at Intertek Group having been chief executive officer of Moody International, which was acquired by Intertek in 2011. Brendan was managing director of Atos in the UK after spending more than 25 years with Schlumberger in senior international roles.

Our Management

 

Group Executive Committee

Agnieszka Jaworska

Group Commercial Director, Clothing & General Merchandise

Julian Beer

Group Commercial Director, FMCG

Marcin Langowski

Managing Director – Dealz CEE

Austin Cooke

Managing Director – Poundland

Barry Williams

Managing Director – Pepco

Jacqui Glenn

Group Chief Information Officer

Mark Murphy

Pepco Supply Chain Director

Keith Cowell

Pepco Operations Director

Ned Staple

Group General Counsel & Company Secretary

Agnieszka Jaworska

Group Commercial Director, Clothing & General Merchandise

Managing areas of sourcing, buying and marketing, a truly product expert.

Joined Pepco in 2013. Having over 20 years’ experience in commercial management across Europe.

Formerly associated with the German retail brand Orsay.

Julian Beer

Group Commercial Director, FMCG

Julian Beer joined Pepco Group as Commercial Director FMCG in March 2023. He is an experienced CCO who has worked in senior commercial roles at the multinational discounter Lidl over the last 12 years, from which he departed as board executive in 2022. In his career he supported setting up the Global Sourcing team in Germany, followed by 5 years of implementation in the U.K. ROI, and Northern Ireland. Prior to Lidl he worked for a period of 10 years at a the retailer BODAN as well for ALDI, both in Germany.

Marcin Langowski

Managing Director – Dealz CEE

Marcin joined the Group in 2007 as Pepco Buying Director before becoming Managing Director of Dealz CEE in 2017. Marcin is responsible for launching and expanding Dealz in CEE. He has over 23 years’ experience in various retail functions, including store operations and buying and merchandising, having held the positions of Buying Director at Auchan and Store Director at Dixons prior to joining the Group.

Austin Cooke

Managing Director – Poundland

Austin Cooke joined Pepco Group as Managing Director for Western Europe in July 2017, leading our Dealz brand in France and Spain. In Early 2018 he was appointed to the role of Retail Director for Poundland UK and Dealz Ireland, and then progressed to Retail and Transformation Director, and then Chief Operating Officer. In 2023 he was appointed as Managing Director of Poundland. Austin has a track record in retail and hospitality, working internationally across Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing, Business Development, and M&A for Phones 4u, Yum Brands Inc (KFC), and Dixons Group.

Barry Williams

Managing Director – Pepco

Barry joined Poundland in 2016 as Trading Director and was promoted to Managing Director of Poundland in 2017. He has over 30 years’ experience within the retail sector, 20 of which were in the discount sector, having spent his early career at Kwik Save and having served most recently as Trading Director and then Marketing Director at Asda. Between these periods, he gained experience in partnership models with the Co-Operative Movement and in wholesale with Musgrave Retail Partners.

Jacqui Glenn

Group Chief Information Officer

Jacqui Glenn joined Poundland as IT Director in 2021 and was appointed as Group Chief Information Officer in October 2023. She has over 30 years’ experience in technology and digital leadership roles delivering transformational change. Jacqui has previously worked at Kingfisher, Sainsbury’s (formally Argos), Whitbread and Volkswagen Group.

Mark Murphy

Pepco Supply Chain Director

Mark joined Pepco in 2021. An experienced International leader with extensive knowledge of developing retail and FMCG business across Europe and Asia. Mark held senior roles in Tesco Product and International divisions.

Keith Cowell

Pepco Operations Director

Keith joined Pepco in June 2023 as Operations Director. He spent 35 years at Tesco in various operations roles; past 15 years as Chief Operating Officer. Since 2016 he have been self employed retail consultant for various companies around the world.

Ned Staple

Group General Counsel & Company Secretary

Ned Staple joined Pepco as Group General Counsel & Company Secretary in September 2023. He worked previously at NYSE listed online car retailer Cazoo and LSE listed property portal and data business ZPG Plc (formerly Zoopla). He led the legal and compliance functions of both businesses through their IPOs. He started his career in private practice in the corporate team of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, working on securities transactions, joint ventures and M&A across multiple sectors.