Peter Marks, chief executive of UK retailer The Co-operative Group, is to retire next year, the company announced today (7 August).
Marks plans to leave in May after six years as chief of The Co-op. He joined the UK's fifth-largest food retailer in 2007 after it merged with another co-operative retailer United Co-operatives. In all, on his retirement, Marks would have spent 45 years working for the "co-operative movement", the retailer said.
Under Marks, The Co-op made significant moves including buying UK food retailer Somerfield.
He said The Co-op had been "transformed" during his tenture "while staying true to our roots as a mutual".
The Co-op chairman Len Wardle added: "Peter has done a truly outstanding job for The Co-operative Group. He was the architect of the current strategy to ensure that we developed real scale in our key businesses.
