ting managing director James Munson, who will be taking up the position of Marks & Spencer’s international retail director in the United Kingdom. “As Ritesh takes over the role of M&S India’s new MD, we couldn’t be better positioned for the future,” said Munson. “In his new role, Ritesh will be responsible for leading and accelerating the growth and success of our India operations. With his strong leadership, M&S will continue to remain the consumer-focused retailer that we are, always keeping customers at the heart of everything we do.” Sacha Laing steps up as Alquemie Group CEO General Pants chief executive Sacha Laing has stepped up to serve as chief executive of Alquemie Group, the retail investment platform of private equity firm Acta Capital. Alquemie Group finalised its acquisition of General Pants last week, and moving forward Laing will oversee the group’s stable of retail brands, which includes Lego, Ginger & Smart, Pumpkin Patch, SurfStitch, Swell, Depactus, The Hidden Way, and now the General Pants line-up. “Alquemie Group has a strong, well-diversified portfolio of retail brands and strong forward growth ambitions. It’s a privilege to join the business at this pivotal time and I look forward to working closely with Richard [Facioni, Acta Capital founder],” said Laing. Facioni said that General Pants is highly complimentary to many of Alquemie’s brands, and that Laing, who has also worked in senior leadership roles at Colette, Country Road Group, and David Jones, was the right person to lead the group moving forward. Ampol’s new head of retail Ampol, formerly known as Caltex Australia, has announced Kate Thompson will act as the convenience business’ new executive general manager of retail Australia. Prior to working at Ampol, Thomspon held senior roles at a number of consumer brands, including ANZ Banking and McDonald’s Australia. “I’m really excited to step into this new role with Ampol. As we seek to evolve our retai loffering to support the changing needs of customers and leverage the growing convenience market, I see significant opportunity for Ampol,” said Thompson. “With our iconic Australian brand, over 6,000 fantastic retail employees, a national network across key demand centres and our push into clean mobility, I look forward to executing our growth strategy in the years ahead.” Thompson is taking over for Joanne Taylor, who recently resigned from Ampol after six years. Ampol chief executive officer Matt Halliday acknowledged Taylor’s contribution to the business, and said he is excited to work with Thompson moving forward. “Kate has consistently delivered operational excellence and strong risk management to the team and has successfully built sustainable structures and governance across risk, safety and environmental management, whilst leading the field operations team,” Halliday said. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with Kate to build on the excellent momentum we have on the execution of our convenience retail growth strategy.”