SPAR South Africa has announced the appointment of Brett Botten as its new CEO and Graham O’Connor as non-executive Chairman - both changes to be implemented following the retirement of chairperson Mike Hankinson on 1 March 2021.

Brett Botten first joined SPAR South Africa in 1994 and has great experience in the retail sector, having served as Managing Director of the SPAR North Rand, SPAR Lowveld, and SPAR Eastern Cape divisions. He was appointed Managing Director of the biggest division, SPAR South Rand, in 2010.

Brett Botten is to succeed Graham O’Connor after the Group’s 2021 annual general meeting in March. Graham O’Connor will move to become the board’s non-executive chair, following the retirement of Mike Hankinson, who has served SPAR South Africa as chairperson with distinction since 2004.

“We would like to thank Mike for his stellar service and steadying hand at the helm since he was first appointed to the Board in September 2004. His guidance, sound leadership, especially when things get tough, and strategic input has helped the Group grow strongly over more than a decade and we wish him extremely well in his well-deserved retirement,” said Graham O’Connor.

Graham O’Connor, who re-joined SPAR South Africa in 2014, has served as Group CEO and member of the international SPAR board for the past six years. His appointment as Chairman ensures the company and its numerous local and international divisions continue to benefit from his deep institutional knowledge of the company and the retail industry as a whole.

“Brett has built an incredible amount of experience in the retail market over many years, notably in numerous leadership roles within SPAR South Africa, and will continue to drive us forward strongly, placing our culture of caring and community first”, Graham O’Connor added in welcome to Brett Botten as CEO.

Several other management changes were announced in the same media alert.

Source: SPAR South Africa

Read more news from SPAR South Africa.

About SPAR South Africa

SPAR South Africa was established in 1963 and operates four retail formats: SPAR, SPAR Express (operated in conjunction with Shell as a petrol forecourt store), KWIKSPAR (which focuses on convenience in city centres and high footfall locations) and SUPERSPAR (similar to EUROSPAR in offer).

South Africa was the first country outside of Europe to join the SPAR organisation. The SPAR Group Ltd South Africa grants sub-licences to independent retailers to operate stores under one of the four formats, with almost all of the current store portfolio being independently owned.