Taylor (pictured) will support Verve’s work with the John Lewis Partnership, including the recently acquired Waitrose account.

Before joining Verve, Taylor was a consultant specialising in retail, hospitality and leisure, and previously spent five years at boutique consultancy Oko and 25 years at Tesco.

Verve has also made seven promotions, including, in the research team, Lydia Burrell to associate director, Laura Chieri to research manager, and Alice Virgo and Clara Boudet to research executives.

The community management team sees Eugen Tuchendria promoted to director, with Madalina Khan and Camelia-Diana promoted to community managers.

Miranda Barenie has been promoted to vice-president in the US.

Andrew Cooper, founder and chief executive of Verve, said: “The promotions are very well deserved, and it’s great to have Simon join us.

“We look forward to bringing on board further inspiring insight specialists as we continue to expand out our proposition to meet an ever-widening range of needs for our clients.”