Wagamama, the Duke Street Capital-backed, David Campbell-led group, has further strengthened its management team with the appointment of Emma Woods, formerly marketing director at PizzaExpress, as its new customer director, MCA has learnt.
Woods, who starts in April and will join the company’s executive team, is currently group marketing and digital director at Merlin Entertainments.
She replaces Simon Cope, global brand director, who leaves the business at the end of April to pursue new projects
Cope joined Wagamama in July 2013 from Mitchells & Butlers, where he had spent 12 years in a number of senior marketing roles, including as its marketing director.
Woods spent over five years at Pizza Express as marketing director, and before that spent 17 years at Unilever, including two years based in Mexico from 2005-2007 as a Latin America Regional marketing director. She has been a non-executive director at The Gym Group since November 2016.
Campbell, chief executive of Wagamama, said: “Emma is a really great hire; she is not only a creative and commercial marketer but also brings a wealth of international experience to our high growth brand. Merlin operates in 24 countries – and about a quarter of its business is in the US – so, aside from UK sector experience, Emma has a lot of international marketing experience. I am very excited about the contribution Emma will make to further growing our business around the world.
“I am really grateful to Simon and all that he has contributed to the growth of Wagamama. When Simon told us he was leaving last Autumn I knew his would be hard shoes to fill, and we all wish him the very best in his new projects and know he will remain a close friend of the Wagamama family.”
Woods said: “I’m really thrilled to be joining the Wagamama Exec team, particularly at such an exciting time as we develop the business in the US. It’s a fantastic brand and I’m very much looking forward to transforming the way we interact with our customers, particularly digitally, as our access to customer data gives us fresh insights and opportunities we could only have dreamed of a few years ago.”
