Succession planning | Dame Sharon White to step down as John Lewis chair

Sharon White, the chair of struggling retailer the John Lewis Partnership, will step down early in 2025, having decided not to seek a second term of office, the company has said, just weeks after it warned its turnaround plan would need more time.

White warned last month that her turnaround plan for the company would take two years longer and cost more due to inflationary pressures as the group reported another loss for the most recent six-month period.

White's departure will make her tenure as chair the shortest in the partnership's 100-year history.

The employee-owned group, which runs John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, said White had asked the partnership's board to initiate the process to appoint a successor as she entered the latter stages of her five-year term.