Pets at Home, the UK’s leading pet care brand, today announced the appointment of Anja Madsen as its new chief operating officer – Retail, effective early April 2024.
Madsen joins with extensive retail experience in both the UK and Denmark, having held prominent positions at Tesco and Sainsbury’s, and most recently served as CEO of føtex, a leading supermarket chain in Denmark. Over the past 15 years, Madsen has successfully led all areas of retail operations including commercial, strategy, innovation, supply chain and operations management.
Prior to this, Madsen was a marketing leader at Johnson & Johnson in Europe and the Middle East after four years as a strategy consultant in various industries. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics and holds an MBA from INSEAD.
Madsen will be responsible for leading Pets at Home’s retail business and 9,000 retail colleagues across more than 450 stores, operations, logistics, supply chain and commercial, and will focus on further enhancing the pet care center estate along with delivering amazing amazing products, services, and support to Pets at Home customers.
Lyssa McGowan, chief executive officer, said: “I am delighted that Anja will be joining the Pets and Home Executive Team to lead our Retail business. We have made significant investments in our retail operations over the past 18 months and Anja’s experience leading consumer-facing businesses will help us realize our next phase of growth as we continue to deliver for pets animals and the people who love them.”
Commenting on his appointment, Madsen, incoming chief operating officer – retail, said: “As a specialist retailer with passionate and purposeful colleagues, Pets at Home is a business I’ve admired from afar and I’m delighted to have opportunity to join the Executive Team at an exciting time. With the new distribution center in operation, the rollout of the Pets re-brand and the digital transformation underway, the business is well placed to achieve its goal of building the best pet care platform in the world, and I no longer can’t wait to start. ”
Madsen takes over the role from Lisa Miao after announcing her retirement last summer following an impressive 34-year career leading UK retail.
