Pets at Home has announced the appointment of Anja Madsen as its new Chief Operating Officer – Retail, effective early April 2024.

Anja joins with extensive retail experience in both the UK and Denmark, having held prominent positions at Tesco and Sainsbury’s, and most recently serving as CEO of føtex, a premier supermarket chain in Denmark.

Over the course of the last 15 years, Anja has successfully led across all parts of retail operations including commercial, strategy, transformation, supply chain and operational management.

Prior to this, Anja was a marketing leader at Johnson & Johnson in Europe and the Middle East following four years as a strategy consultant across a range of industries. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Anja will be responsible for leading Pets at Home’s Retail business and 9,000 retail colleagues across over 450 stores, operations, logistics, supply chain and commercial, and will be focused on further enhancing the pet care centre estate along with delivering fantastic products, services, and support to Pets at Home customers.

Lyssa McGowan, Chief Executive Officer, said: “I am delighted that Anja will be joining the Pets at Home Executive Team to lead our Retail business. We have made significant investments into our retail operations over the last 18 months and Anja’s experience leading consumer-focussed businesses will help us to realise our next phase of growth as we continue to deliver for pets and the people who love them.”

Commenting on her appointment, Anja Madsen, incoming Chief Operating Officer – Retail, said: “As a specialist retailer with such passionate and purpose-led colleagues, Pets at Home is a business I have admired from afar and I am delighted to have the opportunity to join the Executive Team at such an exciting time. With the new distribution centre in operation, the rollout of the Pets re-brand and the digital transformation underway, the business is well placed to achieve its goal of building the world’s best pet care platform, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Anja takes over the role from Lisa Miao after announcing her retirement last summer following an impressive 34-year career at the forefront of retail in the UK.