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Play.com brings in chief executive

01.01.70 | Philip Jones

Play.com has appointed John Perkins, a former senior director at Apple, as its chief executive. He starts on 19th April.

It is the first time the internet retailer has appointed a chief executive. Up to now chief operating officer Stuart Rowe has headed the company. Rowe will continue in his position following Perkins' appointment.

Perkins was senior director of northern and southern Europe for the past eight years at Apple. Before that, Perkins founded web travel company Egencia, which was later bought by Expedia and was sales and marketing director for southern Europe at Dell.

Perkins said: "Play.com has established itself as one of the top online retailing brands in the UK and Europe by putting the customer at the center of everything it does. There are few companies that are so committed to the customer, and I am looking forward to building on the company's success so far and leading the talented Play.com team."

Richard Goulding, co-founder and chairman of Play.com, said: "We are extremely pleased to welcome John to Play.com and believe his tremendous management and international experience will be of great benefit to the company and its customers, and will enable him to successfully lead Play.com in it's future stages of development."

• Graeme Neill
• John Perkins
• People
• Play.com
• Retail
• Stuart Rowe