Pippa Wicks


Pippa Wicks is a British businesswoman who is currently deputy chief executive officer of The Co-operative Group. In August 2020, she is due to become the executive director of John Lewis & Partners.

Personal life

Wicks studied zoology at the University of Oxford, and later studied at the London Business School.

Career

Wicks has worked for Bain & Company. In 1993, she left Bain to become finance director at Courtaulds Textiles. Wicks later worked for a business education company before moving to consultancy firm AlixPartners. Wicks was later hired by The Co-operative Group as interim chief operating officer. The move was challenged as a potential conflict of interest, as Wick had done some work for The Co-operative Group whilst at AlixPartners. She had been paid £8,000 a day for the work. Wicks denied the conflict-of-interest allegation. When Wicks joined the Co-operative Group, the company's future was uncertain. At The Co-operative Group, Wicks earnt over one million pounds a year. In 2017, Wicks was appointed deputy chief executive officer of The Co-operative Group in a restructure following Richard Pennycook's resignation as CEO. Wicks was an advocate of The Co-operative Group setting up a programme to employ victims of modern slavery, giving them a four-week paid work experience placement. In 2019, whilst Wicks was deputy CEO, Co-op Insurance was merged with Markerstudy Group at a cost of £185 million.
In June 2020, Wicks was announced as the new head of John Lewis & Partners, a British department store which is part of the John Lewis Partnership group. The role has been separated from the previous joint role of head of John Lewis and Waitrose. Wicks is expected to take up the position in August 2020, and will succeed Paula Nickolds as head of John Lewis & Partners. She will be one of five women on the board of the John Lewis Partnership. She is expected to help John Lewis recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.