Sainsbury’s is beefing up its leadership team by creating the new group-wide role of director of technology for customer, marketing and Nectar, as part of its transformation strategy spearheaded by chief technology, marketing and data officer Mark Given.
Adina Iliescu has taken up the role with immediate effect, joining from Diageo where she had been since 2022, initially as global digital and technology director before becoming martech transformation director last year.
Prior to that, Iliescu spent nearly 16 years at British American Tobacco (BAT), joining as a management trainee in 2005 before moving up the ranks to group information and digital technology manager, leading global consumer martech, data and analytics strategy and execution.
Iliescu’s expertise sits at the intersection of martech, data analytics, consumer insights, and commercial strategy, qualifying her for Sainsbury’s goal of merging technical engineering with consumer marketing.
Sainsbury’s works with both German tech giant SAP and Microsoft and is two years into its three-year “Next Level Sainsbury’s” transformation strategy, which leans heavily on artificial intelligence, data integration, and customer personalisation.
Iliescu’s role is designed to merges engineering, data, and technology teams across the customer and marketing divisions, while supercharging the Nectar programme.
The retailer has already stated that it wants to expand personalisation capabilities and accelerate the rollout of AI across Nectar, which currently drives engagement through initiatives like Nectar Prices.
Meanwhile, Iliescu will also directly oversee the technological evolution of Sainsbury’s retail media platform Pollen and Nectar 360 to maximise returns on advertising spend for brand clients.
In a LinkedIn post, Iliescu said: “Leaving Diageo was not easy. I was privileged to work with some exceptional people and will remember fondly the challenges we tackled together.
“I am excited by the opportunity to bring my experience in marketing technology, data and transformation to a business with such an important role in customers’ everyday lives. There is a lot to learn and a lot to build, and I am looking forward to helping shape what comes next.”
The move follows the appointment of both Dave Cain as Sainsbury’s new head of martech and James Anstruther as the first head of its AI Centre of Excellence. Cain joined from vehicle parts group LKQ UK & Ireland, where he was head of digital marketing. Anstruther joined from GSK, where he had been director of AI enterprise strategy and transformation.
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