asda store front

Asda has beefed up its tech team, including hiring Marks & Spencer’s chief technology officer Rob Barnes.

Barnes will join the supermarket early next year as delivery director to oversee the development of its new technology strategy and separation from Walmart.

He will be responsible for the design, build and delivery of all colleague and customer-facing technology. He will also act as deputy chief information officer to Carl Dawson.

Prior to joining M&S, Barnes was MD of Accenture’s Retail Tech Advisory business, where he managed technology delivery for a range of clients including Dyson, Clarks, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Best Buy.

Adrian Berry will also join Asda in the new year as chief technology officer. He will have responsibility for all core technology teams, including service delivery, infrastructure, application engineering, platform teams and enterprise technology services.

Berry has held a series of top digital roles, most recently as CIO of Aston Barclay Vehicle Remarketing. He was previously UK CIO and group CTO of Lowell Credit Management.

“We are delighted to welcome Rob and Adrian to the Asda technology team,” said Asda CIO Dawson.

“With their combined experience, I am confident that we will now have the necessary expertise and experience to build best-in-class retail technology systems as we continue our separation journey from Walmart.”