Simon John Roberts (born 26 January 1971) is a British businessman, and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Sainsbury's since 1 June 2020, having previously been retail operations director. He is a former managing director of Boots UK.

Early life

He was born in Croydon, and brought up in South London, attending Purley Sixth Form College.^{[citation needed]}

Career

He started his career working for Marks & Spencer (M&S) aged 16. He was at M&S for fifteen years, becoming a senior manager in 1998.^{[citation needed]}

Boots UK

He joined Boots UK in 2003 as regional director of the south region. He was the joint chief operating officer from 2011, with Ken Murphy. He became managing director of Boots UK (health and beauty) on 1 October 2013, with Ken Murphy (from Cork) becoming managing director of Boots International.^{[citation needed]}

Roberts left Boots in June 2016 "to pursue new opportunities".^[1]

Sainsbury's

In September 2016, it was announced that he would be joining Sainsbury's as retail and operations director.^[2]

In January 2020, he was appointed CEO effective 1 June 2020, following the impending retirement of Mike Coupe.^[3] Roberts also became the CEO of Argos.^[4]

Personal life

He works with Business in the Community.^{[citation needed]}