Lyssa McGowan appointed next chief of Pets at Home

Pets at Home has named Lyssa McGowan as the retailer’s next chief.

Ms McGowan will take the reins as group chief executive from June 1, the company told investors.

The appointment comes after current boss Peter Pritchard revealed in November that he would step down this summer.

Ms McGowan is currently the outgoing chief consumer officer at Sky UK, with responsibility for the consumer business’s 10 million customers.

She was also a non-executive director at Morrisons until its recent private equity takeover.

Ian Burke, chairman at Pets at Home, said: “Lyssa brings strong corporate, strategic and operational expertise across a range of consumer-facing businesses, and a proven track record of growth at Sky, with significant experience in customer and digital-first initiatives across multiple channels and sites.

“Following an extensive search process across internal and external candidates, the board believes that Lyssa has the requisite skills and capabilities to lead Pets at Home as it executes its future growth strategy.

“Lyssa’s commercial and strategic experience will undoubtedly be of great benefit to Pets at Home and I very much look forward to working with her.”

Ms McGowan said: “I am thrilled to be joining Pets at Home as CEO.

“It is a fantastic business with a unique, integrated business model, and a strong purpose-led culture fuelled by the shared passion of over 15,000 colleagues and partners to care for pets, and the people who love them.”

Adam Tomlinson at Liberum said Ms McGowan represents “a high quality, very experienced hire”.

“Her consumer, subscription, and data and digital credentials are in sync with Pets’ self-help levers that give us confidence it can continue its impressive progress of the past few years,” he added.

“The group is in an enviable position and should have a multi-year benefit from the increase in pet ownership seen over Covid.”

Shares in the company moved 0.5% higher in early trading.