Appointment of Chief People Officer, National Retail Group

At a Glance

• Sector – Retail
• Location – Sydney, NSW
• Workforce – 4,200 Employees
• Service – HR Executive Search
• Engagement – Retained Search

The Challenge

A national retail group with 4,200 employees across its store network needed a Chief People Officer to sit on the executive committee for the first time, the role had previously been a senior HR Director reporting into the COO, with no seat at the strategy table.

The board’s concern was less about finding an experienced HR leader and more about finding one who could genuinely operate as a commercial peer to the CFO and COO. Two earlier informal approaches to internal candidates had stalled when neither was assessed as ready for full executive accountability.

Our Approach

Civitas Talent ran this as a retained executive search, starting from an existing map of retail and consumer-sector CPO-calibre leaders rather than a cold search, consistent with our HR Executive Search approach of working exclusively across HR and HSE. 18 candidates were confidentially approached, with 5 progressing to formal assessment.

The Solution

The appointed CPO brought over 15 years of retail and consumer HR leadership, including prior P&L exposure, giving the board the commercial credibility it was specifically searching for.

Measured Impact

• CPO appointed to the executive committee within an estimated 10-week search
• Reduced HR leadership turnover in the store network by an estimated 20% in the first year
• Established a formal workforce strategy reported directly to the board
• Strengthened succession planning across the senior retail leadership bench

Client Reflection

We didn’t just want a great HR leader, we wanted a genuine commercial peer at the table, that’s exactly what Civitas found. 

Why This Matters

Retail businesses scaling store networks increasingly treat the CPO seat as a genuine commercial function, not an HR figurehead role, this appointment reflects that shift, and the search process (starting from a pre-mapped market of retail-experienced CPO candidates) is what made a confident board decision possible in ten weeks rather than six months.

Related Civitas Service

HR Executive Search