Homewares giant Adairs names ex-Country Road boss Elle Roseby as new CEO

Homewares and linen retailer Adairs has named former Country Road managing director Elle Roseby as its new chief executive less than two months after she departed the scandal-ridden fashion house.

Ms Roseby led Country Road and Trenery, part of the Woolworths Holdings-owned Country Road Group, for about six years before resigning in July.

Adairs on Tuesday announced Ms Roseby’s appointment, which would mark her first chief executive role in an ASX-listed company.

Outgoing chief executive Mark Ronan, who announced his departure less than two weeks ago, will continue in his role until early January to facilitate an orderly transition.

Adairs is Australia’s biggest retailer of home furnishings and furniture, with about 200 stores across the country. It also owns the Focus on Furniture and Mocka brands.

Ms Roseby comes in during a challenging period for Adairs as sales tumble amid a more cautious consumer environment. Its share price is also down 24.8 per cent to $1.79 in the past six months.

“Managing vertical speciality retail brands and enhancing service centric store environments has been a consistent feature of my career,” Ms Roseby said.

“I look forward to working closely with the talented teams and leaders of each of Adairs, Focus on Furniture and Mocka.”

Ms Roseby has also held leadership roles at Cotton On Group-owned youth fashion brand Supre, Sportsgirl and department store Myer.

Her resignation from Country Road in July followed claims of sexual harassment and workplace bullying at the company’s Melbourne head office.

On Tuesday, Adairs interim non-executive chair Trent Peterson said Ms Roseby was an authentic values-driven leader who brought deep retail experience across fashion apparel and home textile product categories.