Former Sainsbury’s boss to take over as director of NHS Test and Trace

The former chief executive of Sainsbury’s is to take over as testing director at NHS Test and Trace, replacing the chief executive of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.

Mike Coupe, who left Sainsbury’s in May, replaces Sarah-Jane Marsh.

In 2018, Coupe was forced to apologise after being caught singing Broadway hit We’re In The Money in between media interviews about a £12bn merger with supermarket giant Asda.

Baroness Dido Harding, who runs NHS Test and Trace and is interim executive chairwoman of the National Institute for Health Protection, said in an email seen by the Health Service Journal (HSJ): “We have been incredibly privileged to be able to ‘borrow’ Sarah-Jane for the last five months but it will soon be time for her to return to her substantive role as CEO of Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust.

“Sarah-Jane has led the team with unparalleled drive, compassion, and humour.

“Mike will undertake a period of induction over the next month, working with Sarah-Jane and the team across Testing, initially focused on scaling new testing technologies, and will take over the Testing helm when Sarah-Jane leaves us at the end of October.”

She said Coupe has “worked for 35 years in the food retail industry and will bring a wealth of experience in large scale supply chains, logistics and digital transformation”.

Coupe was successful at takeovers of Argos and Habitat during his tenure at Sainsbury’s.

He was paid £3.1m in his final year at the supermarket and has spent time working for Iceland, Asda and Tesco.