She has been promoted from interim retail director, a position held since March this year, with previous roles including retail HR director and HR director, central.
Former roles elsewhere include 13 years in various HR roles at Asda and six years as head of HR for Lloyds Banking Group. Grainger will commence her new role in early September.
The appointment follows a tumultuous period for Morrisons, with Casper Meijer stepping down as group trading director in April.
Key members of Morrisons’ management board left the company in March. These were group customer marketing and digital director Nick Collard, group retail director Martyn Fletcher, group property and strategy director Gordon Mowat, group logistics director Neal Austin and convenience managing director Nigel Robertson.
Previous group HR director Emily Lawson left the troubled retailer in June.
Morrisons CEO David Potts stated that the aim was to construct a leaner management board, simplifying and “speeding up” the business.
Regarding Grainger’s appointment, he said: “Clare is a hardworking and talented director who passionately represents our people at every level. She has done a great job of leading our stores and now her focus will move to ensuring we grow, develop and attract the best talent to support our turnaround.”
