Darren Blackhurst photo

Darren Blackhurst

Morrisons has named former longstanding Tesco director Darren Blackhurst as new group commercial director.

Blackhurst, who is expected to take up the role in the next few weeks, spent 18 years at Tesco in a number of buying and category director positions in both the UK and France, and was appointed commercial director for Tesco Lotus Thailand in 2002.

He has also previously worked as chief merchandising officer at Asda, commercial director at B&Q and chief executive at retail chain Matalan.

In his new role, Blackhurst will be on Morrisons’ executive committee with responsibility for all trading functions.

The news comes as former group trading director Casper Meijer stepped down from his role in April, after refusing to relocate permanently to the UK.

Morrisons chief executive David Potts said: “We are very pleased that Darren is joining us. He has a proven track record of providing millions of customers with a strong value-focused offer in fresh food, grocery, clothing and most recently DIY.

“I am confident he will play a leading role in making Morrisons increasingly competitive.”

Andrew Pleasance will continue as interim trading director until Blackhurst begins his role.