Kenyatte Nelson, Chief Membership and Customer Officer, Co-op

The Co-op Group has appointed Kenyatte Nelson to the newly created role of chief membership and customer officer.

Nelson will sit on the society’s operating board and report directly to group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq. His appointment comes as the Co-op is working to overhaul its membership proposition.

He will take responsibility for Co-op’s membership, marketing and brand strategies. The society said this would include supporting Co-op’s presence at UK music festivals and the naming rights partnership with Co-op Live – its new music and entertainment arena, based in Manchester city centre.

Nelson joins from fashion retailer N Brown Group, where he has been chief brand officer since June 2019. Before that he was chief customer officer at Missguided and group marketing director at Shop Direct (now known as The Very Group). Prior to moving into retail, Nelson also spent more than 13 years with Procter & Gamble.

He has also served as a non-executive director for the British Retail Consortium since September 2020.

“I could not be more excited about joining the Co-op Group,” said Nelson. “It is a values-driven organisation that touches and improves the lives of millions of people, and I look forward to working with Shirine, the operating board and the rest of the team, to build on the great work that is already happening across the group.” 

Khoury-Haq added: “Kenyatte brings with him a huge amount of marketing, digital, customer and brand experience – he will be a huge asset to our Co-op Group, as he leads our membership, marketing and customer activity and we are delighted to have him join our operating board.”

Nelson’s move comes following the departure of Co-op group customer and community director Ali Jones who left the business in October. All senior marketing leads will now report into Nelson.