Tessiant has appointed Stuart Smith as its chief operating officer.

Smith has previously held senior positions at Morrisons and Tesco.

He was also part of the senior team that delivered the transformation programme across the Walgreens store estate in North America during the merger between Boots and US retail pharmacy chain, Walgreens.

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As an independent consultant, Smith most recently worked with Blue Yonder, Berkshire Grey, Asda and Adobe.

In his new position, he will provide organisations with the ideal combination of board-level consultants, each of whom have worked on major change management programmes with leading brands including Big 4 grocers Sainsbury’s and Asda, alongside retailers Marks and Spencer, Maersk, Mars and Coats.

Tessiant was founded in December 2019 by headhunter Matt Neale, Alex Ball, and Anna Barsby, who was formerly CIO of Asda, Morrisons, and Halfords. 

In its first 18 months, Tessiant has completed 39 business transition and transformation projects for 14 high-profile clients.

Commenting on his appointment, Smith said: “It’s a privilege to be able to work with professionals whom I trust and admire as much as Anna Barsby. She and co-founders, Matt Neale and Alex Ball, have built a truly impressive team of business transformation specialists over the past eighteen months. 

“I’m looking forward to working with this expanded team to help companies to make effective changes that add real value to their customers.”

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