A restructure at Unitas Wholesale has seen David Cooke appointed to the newly created role of chief operating officer. Cooke’s previous role was group commercial director at AF Blakemore.
Following Cooke’s arrival, the Unitas Wholesale executive team reshuffle will see Unitas managing director John Kinney move to the position of CEO. Cooke’s appointment follows that of Gurms Athwal as trading director. Athwal will report to Cooke and has been appointed to the Unitas board with immediate effect.
According to Unitas, Cooke’s responsibilities will include executive responsibility for the trading, commercial, marketing and retail teams. This will include “spearheading initiatives that drive value members and supplier partners alike”, according to a Unitas release.
“David has excellent experience and a track record of delivering growth through collaborative supplier and member relationships, which makes him the ideal leader to accelerate our ‘Fitter, Fairer, Faster’ strategy,” said Kinney.
“Together with Gurms and the wider leadership team, David will help us deliver incremental benefits for members year on year and provide a strong return on investment for our supplier partners.”
Dr Jason Wouhra, OBE, added that Cooke’s appointment would strengthen Unitas’ leadership team and underscore a commitment to continuous improvement and future-proofing the business.
“Aligning trading, marketing, commercial and retail under a COO puts the group in an even stronger position to respond quickly to market opportunities, and to support members with best-in-class propositions,” Wouhra said.
