| Pippa Wicks | |
| Birth Date: | 18 December 1962 |
| Nationality: | British |
| Education: | University of Oxford |
| Occupation: | Businesswoman |
| Executive Director, John Lewis | |
| Term: | August 2020 - 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Paula Nickolds |
Pippa Wicks (born 18 December 1962) is a British businesswoman, and the former executive director of John Lewis & Partners.
Wicks was born on 18 December 1962 to a father employed in marketing at the chemicals company Imperial Chemical Industries, and a mother who was a justice of the peace. During her early teens, her family moved to Buckinghamshire. She attended Lady Verney High School in High Wycombe. She studied zoology at the University of Oxford,[1] and later studied at the London Business School.[1]
She is married and has a son and two stepdaughters.[2]
Wicks has worked for Bain & Company.[3] In 1993, she left Bain to become finance director at Courtaulds Textiles.[4] Wicks later worked for a business education company, Pearson, before moving to consultancy firm AlixPartners.[3] Wicks was later hired by The Co-operative Group as interim chief operating officer.[5] [6] When Wicks joined the Co-operative Group, the company's future was uncertain.[7] At The Co-operative Group, Wicks earned over one million pounds a year.[8] In 2017, Wicks was appointed deputy chief executive officer of The Co-operative Group in a restructure following Richard Pennycook's resignation as CEO.[9] Wicks was an advocate of The Co-operative Group setting up a programme to employ victims of modern slavery, giving them a four-week paid work experience placement.[10] In 2019, whilst Wicks was deputy CEO, Co-op Insurance was merged with Markerstudy Group at a cost of £185 million.[11]
In June 2020, Wicks was announced as the new head of John Lewis & Partners, a British department store which is part of the John Lewis Partnership group.[3] [12] The role has been separated from the previous joint role of head of John Lewis and Waitrose.[12] Wicks took up the position in August 2020,[3] [13] and succeeded Paula Nickolds as head of John Lewis & Partners.[3] At the time of her appointment, she was one of five women on the board of the John Lewis Partnership.[3] Wicks left John Lewis & Partners in February 2023.[14]