British retailer the John Lewis Partnership said Chief Executive Nish Kankiwala will revert to a non-executive role by March next year.

The country’s largest employee-owned group, which runs John Lewis department stores and the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain, said on Monday that, after a transition period, new chairman Jason Tarry will lead both the executive team and the partnership board.

Kankiwala has been CEO since March 2023, when the new role was created to assist then chairman Sharon White with the group’s turnaround programme.

Tarry, a former longstanding executive of Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco, opens new tab, succeeded White last month.

The partnership said the role of CEO will not be directly replaced.

Last month, John Lewis  reported a 91% reduction in first-half losses and said it was on track to deliver “significantly higher” full-year profit as its plan gathers pace.