Lidl Northern Ireland has announced the appointment of a new regional managing director.
Gordon Cruikshanks, who has worked for the discount grocer for 20 years, is taking over from Ivan Ryan.
Mr Ryan has now become chief customer officer for Lidl Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Mr Cruikshanks previously worked as sales operations director with Lidl, and was responsible for the day-to-day sales operations, growth and development of more than 40 stores with a team of over 1,000 employees across Northern Ireland.
He joined in 2005 as a trainee sales operation manager, and has held roles including sales operations director in the Republic of Ireland, and retail property manager.
Over the last year, he has taken part in a development programme with Lidl Germany, specialising in logistics and supply chain, while also developing Germany language skills.
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He has a Bachelor of Science in Management from Queen’s University Belfast and a certification in the IITD Training Skills Programme from the Learning and Development Institute.
Mr Cruikshanks lives in Banbridge with wife Robyn and children, Harry and George.
He takes over the top job at Lidl in Northern Ireland at a time of continued expansion, with the company recording over 35% year-on-year sales growth in the past two years.
Mr Cruikshanks said: “I am delighted to take on the role of regional managing director for Lidl Northern Ireland and support our ambitious expansion plans in the region.
“Having started my career with Lidl in 2005 and spent almost 20 years in roles across the business in Northern Ireland and internationally, my experience is a testament to the exceptional development opportunities Lidl has to offer as an employer.
“I now have the pleasure of leading the incredible local team here in Northern Ireland across our 43 stores and regional distribution centre in Nutts Corner and to maintain our focus on continued growth, offering more customers across the region the highest quality products at market-leading value in communities across Northern Ireland.”
The company opened its largest NI store in Coleraine last month, and now has 43 stores in the region. It has acquired the former Homebase unit at Drumkeen in south Belfast, where it plans to open another new store.
It has more than 1,300 employees here, and supports a further 6,900 indirect jobs.