Neil Ashworth Nisa

Neil Ashworth

Nisa has brought a wealth of retail and logistics experience to its board with the appointment of two new Independent Non-Executive Directors (INEDs).

The new board members Neil Ashworth and Arnu Misra have been taken on as Nisa attempts to grow its share in the convenience market and add more independent retailers to its base.

Neil Ashworth is CEO of Collect+, the largest independent store-based parcel services in the UK, and has his own consultancy, specialising in the retail and logistics sectors.

In the past he has held executive positions at Tesco, the Co-op and Woolworths in a variety of senior retail and logistics roles, as well as chairing the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Arnu Misra, meanwhile, is an experienced retail executive, having held senior roles at Matalan, Asda, and Loblaw’s in Canada. He also spent six years as chief executive of private equity-backed Cannons Health, doubling its membership base before selling to Nuffield Health.

Commenting on the appointments, Nisa chairman Peter Hartley said: “All of Nisa’s board members welcome Neil and Arnu and look forward to working with them during an exciting time for the company. The management team has done an excellent job stabilising the business in the last financial year and we are now building on this.”

The retailer’s chairman Nick Read added: “As we move from stabilisation into growth, and execute our three-year strategy, the experience of both Neil and Arnu will add greatly to this process.

“Nisa has enjoyed a positive start to the busy year-end period, with the recent announcement of significant retailer recruitment, and I am pleased to now be reporting the strengthening of the Nisa board too.”

Nisa recently won contracts with Bourne Leisure and McColl’s Retail Group and added 334 independent retailers to Nisa’s portfolio. The member-owned organisation announced pre-tax profits of £1 million for the six months to 2 October 2016.