Waitrose Director of Trade Ambient - Louise Dolan

Louise Dolan will be joining Waitrose in November

Waitrose has appointed Louise Dolan as trading director for ambient.

Dolan, who will be overseeing trading for all ambient and frozen products, is taking over from Simon Moore after spending almost 10 years at Sainsbury’s, most recently as category director for dairy.

Moore is Waitrose’s trading director for fresh food and has been temporarily leading the whole trading department since the recent John Lewis Partnership head office restructuring.

Dolan will start the new role with Waitrose on 29 November. She will report to commercial director Charlotte Di Cello.

“I’m excited to be joining Waitrose and particularly the Partnership. It’s a business I’ve admired for its excellent service, quality and ethics,” said Dolan.

“I am really looking forward to joining the team at an exciting time and playing my part in delivering an even better Waitrose.”

Before her time at Sainsbury’s, Dolan spent time at Selfridges, M&S and Safeway.

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Di Cello said Dolan had an “impressive track record” and would bring a “wealth of experience from her varied career in food retail”.

“Together with her energy and passion Louise will be a great addition to the team and I look forward to welcoming her to the Partnership in November,” she said.

The upmarket retailer said one of Dolan’s new tasks would be to find more ways for the Waitrose and John Lewis brands to work more closely together.

Her appointment is the latest in the major head office shakeup that saw the two brands come together to become one single Partnership last year.