JD Sports Fashion has lost one of its key executives with Sherilyn Paterson having stepped down as Chief Operating Officer after working at the giant retail business for 12 years in several different roles. 

Paterson joined as head of merchandise for footwear in 2012, moving on to merchandising director two years later. And she became COO in early 2023, combining that with the group operations director role until last August.

Her experience also stretches back further than that with senior stints at some of UK fashion retail’s biggest names, including Kurt Geiger, Arcadia’s Topshop, Burton, and Miss Selfridge, plus Matalan, and Debenhams.

She’s also worked at Littlewoods Shop Direct Group (now Very Group), Etam Group and Mothercare.

The company hasn’t officially announced the news so there’s little detail available around it and she’s still listed as its COO on her LinkedIn page. She’s said to have stepped down for personal reasons.

The retailer has been one of the most successful UK-based business during her tenure, although it has seen an interruption to its progress in recent periods and only last week it saw its share price falling as news of weaker sales at Nike meant investors thought JD Sports would also be struggling.

Back in May, the company had reported lower operating profit as costs and investments rose, although revenue still managed to edge up a little under 3% to over £10 billion in a very challenging market.

The company, which has expanded both organically and by acquisition, is expecting profit before tax and adjusting items of up to £1 billion for the current year.