Simon Roberts | J Sainsbury plc

Simon Roberts is Chief Executive Officer of J Sainsbury PLC (Sainsbury’s) which includes Sainsbury’s, Argos, Nectar, Tu Clothing, habitat and Sainsbury’s Bank. He has over 35 years’ retail sector experience, having started his career on the shop floor at M&S and was most recently Executive Vice President of Walgreens Boots Alliance and President of Boots UK and Ireland.

Since joining Sainsbury’s in 2017 as Retail & Operations Director, Simon has championed a people-first, purpose-driven approach, placing colleagues, customers, and communities at the heart of the business.

Sainsbury’s is committed to making good food joyful, accessible, and affordable for everyone. Simon has overseen investments of over £1 billion into re-setting Sainsbury’s pricing, supporting families with the cost of living and fundamentally changing customers’ perception of value at Sainsbury’s. He has also prioritised industry-leading support for Sainsbury’s 140, 000 colleagues, consistently leading the sector in both pay and benefits.

A passionate advocate for UK farmers and suppliers, Simon is focused on creating long term partnerships with the people who make our food and Sainsbury’s has spent £23.5 billion on UK-sourced products and services over the past year.

Under Simon’s leadership, Sainsbury’s has doubled down on its commitment to tackling food poverty; Sainsbury’s donated over 18 million meals over the past year through impactful partnerships with charities including Comic Relief, Fareshare and Neighbourly. Committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of both customers and colleagues, 4/5 of Sainsbury’s sales now come from Healthy and Better for You products.

Simon is also President of IGD (the charity that unites the food system), a Member of the Government’s Food Strategy Advisory Board, a Member of the Government’s Retail Sector Council, an Advisory Board Member of Diversity in Retail and the former Chair of the Institute of Customer Service.