Morrisons appoints Kingfisher's Mohsen Ghasempour as chief AI officer

Morrisons has appointed Dr Mohsen Ghasempour as chief AI officer, a role the supermarket group describes as "newly created". In an announcement on its corporate site dated 24 September 2026, Morrisons said Ghasempour joins from Kingfisher, where he held the same title, and will take up his post on 1 October 2026, reporting to chief executive Rami Baitiéh.

What Morrisons says

According to the announcement, Ghasempour "will establish a central data science and AI function for Morrisons which will take overall responsibility for Data and AI strategy". Morrisons lists five areas of focus for that function:

• "customer growth"
• "empowering colleagues"
• "operational efficiency"
• "manufacturing excellence"
• "commercial excellence"

Baitiéh is quoted as saying: "Creation of this new role reflects our commitment to ensuring Morrisons is embracing the opportunities in data and AI at pace, with focus and in the right way." He adds that Ghasempour has "hands-on experience of unlocking the potential of technology to deliver innovative new solutions that serve customers, empower colleagues and deliver measurable business impact", and that he looks forward to "his contribution to our growth plans".

Ghasempour is quoted as saying he is "excited about joining Morrisons and building the team that will help the business make effective and responsible use of AI in the years ahead, to deliver real benefits for customers and colleagues."

The appointee

Morrisons says Ghasempour has "a PHD in computer science" and that at Kingfisher he led "the team which built and scaled Kingfisher's AI function in its operations across Europe". Before that, the announcement says, he "held senior technology roles at The Hut Group".

The Grocer reports that Ghasempour spent "more than five years" at Kingfisher, which it describes as the owner of B&Q, Screwfix and TradePoint, and that his PhD is from the University of Manchester. None of those details is in Morrisons' own announcement.

Context

The Grocer describes Ghasempour as Morrisons' "first chief AI officer". Morrisons itself uses the phrase "newly created role" rather than "first".

The Grocer also reports that the appointment follows a move by rival Tesco, which it says appointed Lucy Cooper "earlier this month" as group customer experience and agentic director, from THG Ingenuity. According to The Grocer, that role is responsible for "exploring how the supermarket responds to consumers using AI to do their shopping for them". We have not seen a Tesco announcement of that appointment.

What is not known

Morrisons' announcement does not say how large the new central function will be, whether it will hire externally or draw on existing staff, what budget it will have, or which specific AI projects it will pursue first. It gives no timetable beyond Ghasempour's start date of 1 October 2026.

On our reading, the announcement sets out a remit and a reporting line, but not yet any concrete deployments.