Asos strengthens executive team with CPO hire

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Mar 5, 2020

A new chief people officer is joining Asos next month following the arrival of Robert Birge as chief growth officer in December.

Jo Butler's appointment is the latest in a series of hires designed to significantly strengthen the executive team in preparation for the next stage of growth.

The online fashion platform is also recruiting a new chief commercial officer and chief strategy officer.

Jo Butler is set to join the company as its new CPO on 21 April. She is an experienced HR director, having worked at companies including FTSE350 professional services group Mitie, Itsu and Sainsbury’s during her career. 

Asos said she will play a critical role in its development, leading a team to deliver a people strategy and employer value proposition, and supporting the transformation of the business’s organisational culture.

This is something she has experience with, having led a team of 160 across six business units at Mitie. Her efforts to deliver transformational culture change at the company earned her a place on the Financial Times’ Most Influential Women in Engineering list. At Sainsbury’s, she held numerous senior roles both in the UK and China, and prior to that, she spent a number of years at Santander UK.

Nick Beighton, Asos chief executive, said: “Jo's depth of experience delivering successful, transformational people strategies for listed companies will be invaluable to our ever-evolving, fast-growing business. I look forward to welcoming Jo and the ideas and energy that she brings with her to Asos.”

Butler will focus on driving a people programme that will embed a “high-performance culture” within the organisation.

The Asos executive team currently includes Nick Beighton, CEO; Mat Dunn, chief financial officer; Mark Holland, chief operating officer; Cliff Cohen, chief information officer; and Robert Birge, chief growth officer.