Shirine Khoury-Haq (born 1971) is a British and Australian businesswoman, and CEO of

The Co-operative Group The Co-operative Group Limited, trading as Co-op and formerly known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society, is a British consumer cooperative, consumer co-operative with a group of retail businesses, including grocery retail and wholesale, leg ...

since August 2022. She is the first female chief executive of the business since the Co-op was founded in 1863. Prior to joining the Co-op in 2019, she was COO of

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...

Early life and education

Khoury-Haq was born in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Lebanon, and is of Arabic and Turkish heritage. Her father worked in the oil industry, so they lived in several countries growing up. She learned English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, in addition to her native Turkish language. She attended high school in Australia, followed by the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

, where she earned a

bachelor of commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

degree in accounting and economics. She earned an MBA from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

and is a US certified public accountant, and holds a postgraduate management diploma from the

University of the West of England The University of the West of England (also known as UWE Bristol) is a Public university, public research university, located in and around Bristol, England, UK. With more than 39,912 students and 4,300 staff, it is the largest provider of hi ...

in Bristol.

Career

Early in her career, Khoury-Haq worked in finance and operations at

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

, and was responsible for improving sales and profitability at 160 restaurants. She then moved to

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

, and was based in the US for three years, followed by six years in the UK. In 2007, she became group head of operations and UK chief operating officer at

Catlin Group Catlin Group Limited was a Bermuda-based specialty insurance and reinsurance company. Catlin operated six underwriting hubs worldwide and operated more than 55 offices worldwide. It owned the largest syndicate at Lloyd's of London, based on 2011 ...

, which was then the largest syndicate and managing agent within Lloyd's of London. In 2014, she was appointed COO of

, where she remained for five years, and implemented a programme to modernise the way that Lloyd's operates, by using technology and hiring people from outside the insurance industry. Khoury-Haq joined

in August 2019, serving as chief financial officer and head of the life services division, which sells insurance and provides funeral care and legal services. In May 2022, she was appointed interim CEO following the departure of Steve Murrells, becoming the group's first female CEO in its 159-year history. She was confirmed as permanent CEO in August 2022. Khoury-Haq is one of only a handful of women CEOs leading

FTSE 100 The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most market capitalisation, highly capitalised ...

or equivalent businesses in the UK. She earns an annual salary of £750,000, plus a bonus, bringing her total remuneration to over £1 million in recent years.

Personal life

Khoury-Haq has twin daughters. In 2022, she told ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' that each of her children would receive a single Christmas gift in solidarity with people experiencing financial difficulties. She lives in

Cheshire, England Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shropshire to the south; to the west ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khoury-Haq, Shirine 1971 births Alumni of the University of the West of England, Bristol Australian National University alumni British retail chief executives The Co-operative Group Lebanese emigrants to Australia Lebanese emigrants to the United Kingdom Lebanese people of Turkish descent Living people Ohio State University Fisher College of Business alumni Businesspeople from Beirut