Boots hires former John Lewis director as new customer and marketing boss

Boots has appointed Charlotte Lock as its new Senior Vice President for Customer & Marketing, effective immediately. 

Lock joins Boots following her role as Pan-Partnership Customer Director at John Lewis, where she served from March 2022 to June 2025.

Prior to this, she held several senior positions at the Co-op, most recently as Director of Data, Loyalty & Digital Products from January 2020 to March 2022.

Earlier in her career, Lock also spent over eight years at the BBC, holding a variety of leadership roles including Director of Youth Strategy for BBC Sport and Director of BBC Sounds.

Announcing her new role on LinkedIn, Lock said: "I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Senior Vice President, Customer & Marketing at Boots UK. Exciting times!"

Steve Ager, Chief Customer & Commercial Officer at Boots, welcomed the appointment, adding: "We’re pleased to welcome Charlotte Lock to Boots as our customer and marketing director.

"Charlotte joins us with deep expertise in developing leading customer journeys for loved retail brands and creating seamless connections across marketing, branding and loyalty initiatives.

"We’re excited about Charlotte’s appointment as we continue our successful transformation focused on delivering exceptional experiences for our customers and upholding our brand promise: With you. For life."

Lock’s appointment follows the departure of Pete Markey, who stepped down as Chief Marketing Officer earlier this year after around four and a half years with the health and beauty retailer.

It also comes after Boots launched its 2025 festive campaign this week, inviting customers to explore the "magic of meaningful gifting" through a fairytale-inspired story.

The campaign reimagines the classic fairytale for a modern audience, following the adventures of Puss, a feline protagonist tasked with finding last-minute gifts ahead of the Snow Queen’s Ball.

It will run for eight weeks across a range of channels, including AV, audio, out-of-home, cinema, print, social media, and online platforms.