Australian Appointments

Woolworths Ltd. (Sydney, Australia) has appointed Tom Flood as director of supermarkets, effective immediately. Flood, who is currently chief general manager of supermarkets operations, replaces Bill Wavish. Peter Smith, one of the retailer's regional managers, has replaced Flood.

Woolworths ceo Roger Corbett also announced that Marty Hamnett, currently general manager of its low-cost department store chain Big W, has been appointed director of general merchandise. Hamnett will report directly to Corbett.

“This appointment will be progressively implemented over the next few months leading up to the retirement of Dick McMorron, who currently holds this role, later in the year,” says Corbett.

Hamnett has also been appointed chairman of the group's Project Refresh Stage 2 review committee, which includes internal and external members.

Woolworths said McMorron has agreed to maintain an ongoing involvement with the company in a consultancy role. He will focus on the development of general merchandise areas and long-term planning.

Wavish, who took over running the supermarkets division in 2002 after three years as the group's cfo, was expected to be Corbett's successor. Wavish has agreed to stay on as a consultant until August 2004.

As Australia's second-largest retailer (after Coles Myer), the company operates more than 1350 supermarkets, general merchandise and electronics stores in Australia and Tasmania. Woolworths' general merchandise discount stores operate under the Big W name, and it has some 130 Dick Smith Electronics stores and over 300 Tandy consumer electronics stores.