NZ Woolworth NZ MD Spencer Sonn CREDIT Woolworths NZ

Woolworths New Zealand’s has appointed Spencer Sonn as its new managing director, joining from Woolworths Holdings South Africa where he spent the last five years as the Managing Director Food, responsible for the food and innovation portfolios across more than 400 supermarkets and 33,000 team members.

Sonn officially started in the role this week after spending time in stores throughout Aotearoa getting to know the team and the wider business.

Supermarket News reports Sonn has a 25-year grocery career behind him, starting out on a store management graduate programme, and progressing through a variety of roles to gain valuable experience in fresh and long-life food, operations and buying.

“I’ve spent the past couple of weeks visiting stores and getting a good feel for how our business operates,” said Sonn. “It has really struck me how passionate our team are, right throughout Aotearoa, and particularly when it comes to delivering a great shopping experience for our customers and building innovative solutions that will see our business grow well into the future.

“I’m incredibly excited to be taking on this new role and continuing to build on the strong foundations that the leadership team have already put in place. The immense potential that this business has was one of the key things that attracted me to this position, and I’m looking forward to leading and supporting the team to help realise that,” he added.