intu has created a new team and series of senior roles to transform how it will work with retail and leisure brands and boost their performance at its portfolio of popular destinations.
It includes four heads of partnerships who will bolster relations and grow new business across a range of sectors, with House of Fraser’s former retail operations director Sally Haskayne appointed as head of fashion partnerships within intu’s new customer performance directorate.
The Jockey Club’s former head of partnerships Bruce Gardner will lead on strengthening and building new relationships with consumer goods brands and Christopher Baker and Nick Round have moved over from intu’s asset management team to take on the roles of head of lifestyle partnerships and head of food, beverage and leisure partnerships.
James Miller has also been appointed as intu’s head of analytics and insight with responsibility for using data to deliver commercial value for intu and the many brands it works with. He joins the team from data consultancy Starcount and prior to that was head of retail insight at Experian.
The customer performance directorate was formed as part of intu’s five-year strategy last year to drive the performance of its rent-paying customers and attract more online brands to its centres by working in closer partnership, sharing data and insight, and developing new products and services.
It is led by intu’s customer performance director Rebecca Ryman who previously ran the leasing strategies for a number of centres including the transformational extensions of intu Lakeside and intu Watford.
intu’s omnichannel team, which works with online brands, and its retail innovation team, which works on new initiatives including direct-retailing concept The Birdhouse Café, have also been brought into the customer performance directorate as part of its drive to bring more online brands and new propositions to intu centres. Fashion House, a UK-first store dedicated to fast-growing online fashion labels, is set to launch at intu Lakeside later this year.
Rebecca Ryman, customer performance director at intu, said: “We have built a team of sector specialists who will drive more value for our rent-paying customers and attract new brands to our centres for the first time. We will work closely with brands to develop and share new insight, products and services that will ensure their intu locations are their most successful.
“Get it right and we all succeed, with thriving destinations that continue to attract visitors and encouraging spend.”
Matthew Roberts, chief executive of intu, said: “We recognise that we need to work more collaboratively with our rent-paying customers and deliver additional value to help them navigate the challenges currently facing the sector. This will allow us to deliver an important part of intu’s strategy by ensuring all our customers flourish.”
The new hires follow the announcement that intu also has brought together teams including development, asset management and commercialisation into a centre performance directorate to accelerate the transformation of its centres with new enhancements and activities.
