Retail veteran Browett joining Octopus board as non-executive
Retail guru John Browett has been appointed to the board of fund manager Octopus Investments as non-executive director.
Browett, best known for heading Dixons Retail for five years between 2007 and 2012, is currently the boss of homewares store Dunelm.
He also had stints as chief executive of Monsoon Accessorize, boss of Tesco’s online arm Tesco.com and also sits on the board of EasyJet. He worked for tech giant Apple in California as senior vice-president of retail after leaving Dixons in 2012 – but left after just six months.
Octopus offers funds to financial advisers and investors and uses the cash raised to take venture capital-like stakes in fledgling companies, many retail-orientated.
It has previously backed startups such as snack box provider Graze.com, cab hailing app Kabbee, Secret Escapes and Lovefilm.com.