The Co-op’s former quick commerce chief Chris Conway has joined Nesta as an adviser.
Conway unexpectedly departed the convenience retailer last month after eight years with the business.
Influential nudge body Nesta has been a major influence on government moves to tackle the obesity crisis. Its stated mission is to halve the prevalence of obesity in the UK by 2030. The innovation foundation has been instrumental in helping the government draw up its mandatory health reporting and targets framework for brands, and its switch to an updated nutrient profiling model.
“A key part of Nesta’s approach to halving the prevalence of obesity in the UK is working with industry, from trialling interventions through our valuable business partnerships to consulting with industry experts as part of our research processes,” Lauren Bowes Byatt, director of healthy life at Nesta, told The Grocer.
“We are excited to have Chris on board as one of our advisers with expertise in the food retail sector, including his valuable experience transforming the Co-op’s online offer, as part of our work making it easier for people to make healthy choices,” she added.
Conway will join fellow Co-op alumnus Catherine Brien, who sits on the board of trustees at Nesta. Brien is a former data science director of Co-op Group, now partner and MD of AlixPartners.
Conway, who reported to Co-op CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq and was a board member of the £8bn Co-op Food business, told The Grocer last month that he was proud of what his teams had achieved “during a period of significant growth and operational challenge, particularly establishing q-commerce as a meaningful part of the online grocery landscape and leading the business through the cyber disruption with resilience and focus”.
He did not give a reason for leaving, but it came after a wave of high-profile departures from the Co-op that have been linked to management changes introduced since the devastating cyber attack.
Conway joined Co-op from Morrisons – where he was head of online – in 2018, and previously served as senior director of online grocery at Asda.
Conway set Co-op’s ambition to capture close to a third of the store-to-door, rapid delivery market by 2027. The retailer’s aim is to take 30% of the UK quick convenience market, which it defines as fast deliveries made from stores to customer homes. The Co-op’s share of the quick commerce market reached 24% in April before falling to 17% in the wake of the cyberattack last May [NIQ]. By September it reported that share had recovered to 21%.
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