East of England Co-op strengthens operational focus with leadership appointment: Andy Rigby named as CEO

Today, the East of England Co-op has announced a strengthening of its focus on operational excellence through the appointment of Andy Rigby as Acting CEO (Chief Executive Officer) for a minimum of 12 months. This leadership alignment re-enforces the East of England Co-ops commitment to accelerating its growth as the leading regional retailer and reaffirm its commitment to its communities.

Andy joined the East of England Co-op in early 2022 as COO (Chief Operations Officer) and has over 40 years’ leadership experience in senior executive roles across a range of formats - in UK, EU and international markets.

Joy Burnford, President of the East of England Co-op, commented: “Andy has proven himself to be a force for good in many ways for our Society in the time he has been with us; we welcome his appointment as we continue on our journey together to make a bigger difference in our communities and return to sustainable profit.”

Andy commented: ”It is an honour to lead the East of England Co-op on our exciting journey which will continue at pace. Our focus remains on our customers, our colleagues, our members and our communities who we take great pride in supporting and serving, now and in the future. I’d like to thank our 3,000 incredible colleagues who continue to work so hard for our co-op and our Board too for their continued support, I’m excited and proud to continue to work closely with them to deliver our strategy. We’ve come a long way in a short-time and we have lots to be excited about.”