Johnston to Leave CEO Role at Aimia

Data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics company Aimia has agreed to part company with its Chief Executive David Johnston, once a replacement is found. The 'mutual agreement' reflects the 'reshaping' of the company, which sold its Nectar loyalty program to Sainsbury's three months ago.

The company, which also announced strong first quarter results this week, sold Nectar and related assets to supermarket giant J Sainsbury plc for approximately $105m (£60m). Johnston said the resulting ' tighter business and geographic footprint' meant it was now 'the right time for him to further his career elsewhere', and commented: 'I am proud of the results we have achieved over the past year despite significant challenges'.

Johnston (pictured) joined the firm in 2010 to lead the EMEA business and took over as COO three years later. He has held the full CEO role for less than a year. Prior to joining Aimia he spent more than thirteen years at PepsiCo in a number of marketing and general management roles in Eastern Europe, Latin America, the UK and USA; and before this he worked for six years at brewer Bass plc.

Board Chairman Robert E. Brown said in a statement: 'On behalf of the Board of Directors, the company and its stakeholders, I would like to thank David for his many years of service to our company and for his important contribution during this transition period for Aimia. We are excited about the future of Aimia and the Aeroplan program and we believe that now is the appropriate time for a new CEO to assume leadership of the company'.

Aimia partners with companies and groups to help clients generate, collect and analyze customer data and derive actionable insights. Its businesses include Aeroplan in Canada and Air Miles Middle East, Club Premier in Mexico and Think Big, a partnership with Air Asia and Tune Group. It operates Enterprise and SaaS versions of its Aimia Loyalty Platform, as well as the Intelligent Shopper Solutions offering.

Web site: www.aimia.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.