Coles' current CFO Leah Weckert will take on a new role in the company, with Charlie Elias taking on the finance executive leadership position.
Weckert joined Coles in 2011 and became CFO in March 2018. She is moving into the chief executive, commercial & express role from April 2022. The position entails leading the supermarket business units, own brand teams and Coles Express business.
CEO and managing director Steve Cain said: “Leah’s knowledge of the business, our sector and the broader market will be important in the role of chief executive, commercial & express.”
Weckert has worked across the company in multiple roles including merchandise, operations, human resources and strategy. She played a significant role in the demerger of Coles from Wesfarmers and led Coles’ finance, treasury, strategy, business development and investor relations functions during her time as a CFO.
Current chief executive Greg Davis is leaving the company after the handover period. He has been at Coles since 2009.
Cain thanked Davis for his work as CFO during the demerger and his time leading commercial & express.
New CFO
Charlie Elias has been appointed as the company’s new CFO. Elias will work on a transitional period with Weckert when he joins in December, before assuming the role fully on 28 February 2022.
“Charlie’s broad executive experience and deep financial knowledge in large scale organisations and projects will be invaluable to Coles as we continue to execute our strategy to ‘win in our second century’,” said Cain.
Most recently, Elias was BlueScope Building Products Asia and North America CFO. He was responsible for corporate finance, treasury, investor relations, M&A, audit and insurance. Prior to that he was Linfox Group CFO and executive director, along with TXU Australia’s head of strategy & business development.
