UK frozen food retailer Iceland Foods has appointed ex-Aldi senior executive Paul Foley as international business director in a bid to drive growth overseas.
Foley,who previously held a position within Iceland before moving to discount retailer Aldi for 20 years in 1989,will be tasked with identifying and exploiting new opportunities to grow the Iceland brand globally,the retailer said today(3 September).
Foley began his retail career in 1976 as a management trainee with Bejam,which was acquired by Iceland in 1989.He left the company in 1989 to join the start-up of Aldi in the UK as sales director.
He left his role as group managing director of Aldi UK and Ireland in 2009 to set up his own retail consultancy,working with retailers in countries including Russia,Ukraine and the Czech Republic.
He has already begun working for Iceland but for the next few months will also be fulfilling his remaining consultancy commitment before joining the retailer full-time in January.
In his new role,Foley will take responsibility for Iceland's established ITEX export business and its new retail operation in the Czech Republic.He will be based at the ITEX office in Vienna and will report directly to Iceland chief executive Malcolm Walker.
