The Co-op has announced that Shirine Khoury-Haq has been appointed as group CEO.

Khoury-Haq joined the Co-op executive in August 2019 and has been its CFO and CEO of Life Services. She is also a non-executive director of Persimmon plc.

Before joining the Co-op Group, Khoury-Haq was chief operating officer for the Lloyd’s insurance market, comprising more than 50 leading insurance companies, operating with over 200 Lloyd’s brokers. Her remit included global operations, business transformation, data, information technology and corporate real estate.

In addition to holding senior positions at IBM, McDonald’s and insurer Catlin Group, Khoury-Haq has worked in a number of regulated sectors in the UK and overseas including retail, IT, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods. She was a NED at the Post Office.

Commenting, Allan Leighton, chair of Co-op said; “I’m delighted that Shirine has accepted the invitation to lead and develop our Co-op into the future, tackling the challenges presented by the highly uncertain and volatile external environment.

“Shirine has proven leadership qualities and a deep level of transformational experience, and the Board has been impressed by her desire to prioritise on activity that will deliver a strong financial Co-op for our members, whilst maintaining a focus on our vision and wider social commitments.”