By Emma Koehn
Myer’s board is braced for a shake-up ahead of a changing of the guard in its executive team next year, with the boss of Qantas’ loyalty program, Olivia Wirth, and veteran corporate raider, Gary Weiss, nominated to join as directors.
The retailer on Monday revealed details of a board refresh, with long-standing chairman and director JoAnne Stephenson to retire at Myer’s upcoming annual general meeting. She will be replaced by businessman Ari Mervis, who is already an independent non-executive director at Myer.
Wirth has been nominated for a board seat along with Ardent Leisure chairman Weiss, who is a close associate of Myer’s largest shareholder, Solomon Lew. The billionaire rag trader’s Premier Investments owns a stake of around 30 per cent in Myer.
Qantas loyalty boss Olivia Wirth will bring a strong background in customer analytics to the board of Myer.Credit: Bloomberg
A successful entry of Wirth and Weiss into Myer’s board, coupled with Stephenson’s exit, would reset the executive options for the retailer ahead of a broader management shakeup at Myer next year. Current chief executive officer John King and chief financial officer Nigel Chadwick are both set to exit the business in 2024.
Gary Weiss, one of Lew’s oldest friends and business allies.Credit: Sam Mooy
Premier said on Monday it was ready to back the nominations of Wirth and Weiss at Myer’s annual meeting.
“As Myer’s largest shareholder, we are supportive of Myer’s efforts to refresh the board by adding to the skills and experience of the group,” a spokesperson for Premier said.
“With regard to the new proposed directors, we were pleased to note their strong property, commercial, consumer and loyalty credentials. We intend to vote in support of all proposed and existing directors standing for election to the board at Myer’s upcoming AGM.”
Myer pointed to Wirth’s strong capability in customer experience and analytics, given her experience heading up Qantas Loyalty, which oversees customer loyalty through the airline’s frequent flyer program.
She will remain in her current role at Qantas in addition to her proposed new role on the Myer board.
Consumer loyalty programs are a key focus for Myer moving forward, as it aims to continue to grow the impact of its Myer One program.
The company told investors when revealing its 2023 financial results last month that loyalty rewards were becoming an increasingly important part of the business, with shoppers who had access to loyalty points spending more than those who don’t.
Myer has 7.3 million contactable members in the Myer One program, a 10 per cent jump on last year, with 4.2 million active members who have shopped with the business in the past 12 months.
Outgoing CEO King has been touting the potential of the customer data, collected through Myer One, to help the store develop better targeted offerings for consumers.
“Myer One will continue to underpin growth for our business as we leverage better insights
to inform our business decisions, deliver greater insights and support for our partners, providing a strong and actionable database to commercialise further and deepen the connection with our most loyal Myer One customers,” he told investors and analysts at the company’s full-year results.
The new board will be steering the business through the continued slowdown in discretionary spending, though the department store sector may be the one bright spot of the upcoming festive trading season, with Australian Retailers Association figures predicting department store sales will be up by 2.9 per cent this Christmas compared with last year.
Myer shares opened 1 per cent stronger to 52 cents per share, but reversed course to end the session at 50 cents.
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