Executive
leadership team

Leah Weckert

Leah Weckert became CEO and Managing Director of Coles Group on 1 May 2023.

Leah joined Coles in 2011 and has held several senior roles across the Coles Group. Most recently, Leah was Chief Executive, Commercial and Express leading the supermarkets business units and the Coles Express business. Before this, Leah was Chief Financial Officer and played a leadership role in the demerger from Wesfarmers in 2018. Leah has also held roles as Director Strategy, Director People & Culture, State General Manager Victoria Operations, and General Manager Merchandise, Strategy and Innovation.

Prior to joining Coles, Leah worked at McKinsey & Company, advising large private and public sector clients, and Fosters Group in Strategy and Business Development.

Leah's qualifications include a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) from Adelaide University and a Bachelor of Science from Adelaide University. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a member of Chief Executive Women.

Outside of work, Leah enjoys spending time with her husband and two children.

Charlie (Sharbel Raymond) Elias

Charlie is a global finance leader with extensive finance and executive experience over 30 years. Charlie has a demonstrated track record of success as a global CFO and Executive in large scale and complex organisations.

Charlie is responsible for finance, treasury, strategy, business development, investor relations, insurance and property.

Prior to joining Coles, Charlie was the CEO of BlueScope Building Products Asia and North America. Previous roles have included CFO of BlueScope Limited, CFO and Executive Director of Linfox Group and CFO, Director and General Manager Strategy & Business Development for TXU Australia.

Charlie began his career with Deloitte, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accountancy (with distinction) and is a member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Matt Swindells

With over 20 years’ experience, Matt has an extensive knowledge of the retail sector and has held various senior management positions across supply chain and merchandise, including General Manager Supply Chain and General Manager Meat, Deli and Seafood. 

Matt then served as the CEO of Tasman Meats, a large format private equity owned meat retailer, before returning to Coles in July 2017. In June 2021, Matt graduated from the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, covering complex challenges of strategy, digital transformation, global economics and leadership. 

Matt’s accountabilities encompass the end-to-end management of Store Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Sustainability, as well as leading the business on the automation strategy with Witron and Ocado.
 

Amanda McVay

Amanda is a global retail leader with more than 20 years' experience in retail merchandising and marketing across a wide range of product categories and disciplines. 
 
As Chief Customer Officer, Amanda leads the development and execution of Coles’ marketing, brand and customer communication strategies. 
 
Amanda has extensive marketing and customer strategy experience, and joins Coles Group from Meijer in the United States where she was most recently Group Vice President, leading Digital, Customer Strategy & Own Brand. Prior to joining Meijer in 2012, Amanda held several roles at Target US Headquarters in a range of commercial and merchandising portfolios. 
 
She holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, and has completed the Leadership for Senior Executive Programme at Harvard Business School.

Kris Webb

Kris Webb has over 30 years of international experience across the full suite of human resources functions. She has led significant P&C teams with remits across Australia and globally, including working in Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Japan and Asia, in a range of industries.

Prior to joining Coles, Kris spent 11 years with GlaxoSmithKline in Australia, Singapore and the UK, most recently as Senior Vice President HR, with responsibilities across the global pharmaceuticals business.

Kris was previously National Human Resources Director for the Australian law firm Clayton Utz, HR Director – Asia Pacific for PriceWaterhouseCoopers Financial Advisory Services and earlier in her career, spent 10 years with BP Australia in a range of business roles.

Kris holds a Bachelor of Business from RMIT.

John Cox

John has more than 20 years’ experience in a career that has covered the breadth of financial services (banking, payments, insurance, wealth, and markets) retail, government services and logistics.

Prior to joining Coles, John spent five years at Australia Post, as CIO and EGM for Transformation and Enablement with accountability for Strategy, Technology, Communications, Government Relations, Data Science and Transformation office. He spent eight years at NAB in a variety of roles, concluding as CIO for Banking and Markets. He started his career in Management Consulting at Accenture working on large scale business transformations in Europe and Asia. John focuses on culture to make sustainable change and innovating to create customer value. 

Born in Australia, John has lived and worked in Australia, Germany, Scotland, and England and has managed teams across the globe. He is passionate about learning and the potential of education to change lives.

David Brewster

David's extensive legal career includes a long-standing role as partner at Allens Linklaters, where he gained extensive knowledge across competition and regulatory law with a focus on merger clearances, regulatory investigations and major litigation. During this time, David worked closely with the Coles team in relation to regulatory inquiries into supplier negotiations and Own Brand products.

David joined Coles in early 2016 and leads the legal, risk, regulatory compliance, employee relations and safety teams. He helped establish and is a member of the Coles Risk, Audit and Compliance Management Committee, as well as an executive member of the Coles Better Together diversity committee responsible for LGBTI matters.

David's qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws (Hons 1) from the Australian National University and a Master of Laws from Queensland University of Technology.

Michael Courtney

Michael was appointed to his role as Chief Executive, Liquor in June 2023, leading over 6,000 team members to serve our customers every day across Liquorland, First Choice Liquor Market and Vintage Cellars. 

Since joining Coles in 2015, Michael has held senior roles in Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Corporate Relations and Finance with his most recent appointment as Executive General Manager Omnichannel Operations & Innovation. Within this role Michael was accountable for driving integrated omnichannel trade planning for the enterprise and ensuring network growth and operational excellence for online offerings. 

For the three & a half years prior to this, Michael led the Coles Express Business - a national network of over 700 convenience stores and almost 6,000 team members. Michael led the transition of the Coles Express business to Coles’ alliance partner Viva Energy. As part of the landmark agreement, full operating control of the business was transitioned to Viva Energy while maintaining a partnership with Coles Group on product supply, fuel discounts and customer loyalty.

Michael began his career in banking with ANZ and immediately prior to joining Coles, Michael was Vice President Equity Research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he covered the retail, food & beverage and paper & packaging sectors. 

Michael holds a Bachelor of Finance from La Trobe University. 
 

Daniella Pereira

Daniella has an extensive career in legal, governance and company secretariat, including a 14-year career with ASX-listed industrial chemicals company, Incitec Pivot. This included five years as Company Secretary and, prior to that, as General Manager of Corporate Governance and Compliance. Daniella began her career as a lawyer with Ashurst (formerly Blake Dawson) advising on major corporate transactions.

As Group Company Secretary, Daniella is responsible for setting the program and agenda for the Coles Group Board and committees, including the Coles Annual General Meeting, overseeing Coles' communications with shareholders and ensuring that Coles operates in accordance with the Corporations Act and the ASX Listing Rules.

Daniella holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts from Murdoch University.

Ben Hassing

Ben has nearly 20 years of retail management experience. He joined Coles in May of 2020 moving to Australia from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Prior to joining Coles, Ben was Senior Vice President at Walmart with leadership roles in Ecommerce, Technology, Store Operations, Strategy, Merchandising, and Finance. He worked in Walmart’s US, China, and International business units.

Ben holds an MBA for the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and a BA from Temple University.

Sally Fielke

Sally has almost 20 years’ experience in CEO and senior management roles.

Prior to commencing at Coles, Sally was General Manager Corporate Affairs for Sydney Airport for almost eight years. 

Sally was previously the CEO of Australian Hotels Association, New South Wales branch, the Australian Hotels Association, Northern Territory branch and is a former lawyer. 

Sally holds a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts. She is a member of Chief Executive Women and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.