Ex-Sainsbury’s boss takes key Test and Trace job
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© Reuters
Former Sainsbury’s supermarket chief executive Mike Coupe is to take over as director of Covid-19 testing at England’s Test and Trace agency.
He brings huge experience in running supply chains and logistics, said the Department for Health and Social Care.
But Labour shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said it would make more sense to put “those trained in actual infectious disease control in charge”.
Mr Coupe, who left Sainsbury’s in May, replaces Sarah-Jane Marsh.
Earlier this month she issued a “heartfelt” apology for problems with the coronavirus testing system. She blamed delays in laboratory processing.
At Test and Trace, Mr Coupe will be joining other former retail executives. The head of the service, Dido Harding, worked at Tesco and Sainsbury’s before spending seven years as boss of TalkTalk.
A former head of HR at Sainsbury’s is at test and trace, as is a former digital director of Waitrose.