Name: Julia Reynolds
Was: Director of buying and merchandising at Tesco’s Central European clothing business
Now: CEO of Blacks Leisure Group
Years in grocery: Eight

Career background: After starting at the bottom of the corporate ladder as an office junior at Topshop in the mid-1990s, Reynolds rapidly rose through the ranks. In 1996, she was appointed as senior buyer at Arcadia/The Burton Group, and in 1999 she joined Tesco’s clothing team. She was considered Tesco’s most senior female executive when she left in 2008 to join online lingerie outfit Figleaves.com.

What is she doing now? In mid-2011, Reynolds became CEO of struggling outdoor goods retailer Blacks Leisure Group. She joined the company during a tumultuous period, in which billionaire Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley - a significant shareholder in Blacks - called for then-chairman David Bernstein to resign. Blacks had been losing money, so it came as little surprise when the retailer was acquired by JD Sports Fashion in January this year. As The Grocer went to press, speculation was mounting that Reynolds is set to leave the business after JD completes the merger of Blacks’ operations into its existing business.

Biggest achievement in grocery? Reynolds was instrumental in turning Tesco into one of the UK’s biggest fashion retailers - she came up with the £3 pair of jeans, which rattled rivals and attracted lots of publicity for Tesco’s non-food offer, and the successful Florence & Fred collection.

What does the future hold? If the rumours about her departure from Blacks are true, Reynolds could be spending some time mulling over her next career move. Blacks refuses to comment. A return to Tesco seems unlikely - she told journalists she’d left the business because she had had her fill of “chest-beating alpha males”.

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