Central England Co-op has appointed Simon Brealy as head of technology and a member of its leadership team.

He joins the supermarket chain from Ted Baker, which fell into administration earlier this year, where he served as head of information technology for over seven years.

Brealy began his career at the iconic British fashion brand in 2017 as global service delivery manager, with responsibilities including the development and implementation of its end-to-end IT service worldwide.

In 2019, he became head of global IT services and was eventually promoted to head of information technology and interim IT director in 2020.

Prior to that, he was infrastructure and system support manager at British events, intelligence and advisory services specialist Ascential Plc, where he was responsible for all areas of Infrastructure and systems support, delivering large projects globally.

Brealy commented on his stint at Ted Baker in a Linkedin post: “I finished up with Ted Baker last Friday (the 13th no less) - the end of over seven years of my life living and breathing what was an incredible brand with the most incredible of people working there.”

He continued: “I have been privileged to be able to work with some absolutely outstanding people who are all moving onto new things, and deserve the very best in return from their future employers and colleagues! I'll forever be grateful for the support, advice, guidance and experiences this particular group of wonderful people have shared with me.”

In August, Ted Baker announced its plans to make a digital comeback in the UK and Europe this autumn, following the closure of its physical stores.

The brand's owner, Authentic, announced an extended partnership with United Legwear and Apparel (ULAC) to manage Ted Baker's online operations in these key markets.

The news came days after the retailer announced the closure of all 31 of its remaining UK stores, putting around 500 jobs at risk. This followed the closure of 15 shops earlier this year where 245 staff were made redundant.

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