O’Sullivan had worked at Argos, Home Retail Group and then Sainsbury’s since 2001, rising to become head of print and publications at Sainsbury's. 

Her role was made redundant earlier this year following a restructure, and the Webmart opportunity came about after she posted on LinkedIn that she was looking for a new opportunity. 

O’Sullivan originally worked at the Bicester-based marketing procurement specialist as an account manager from 1998-2000. 

She is re-joining the business as its new procurement director, and starts on 1 November.  

Managing Director Richard Boon commented: ‘Many businesses don’t consider the opportunity of combining skillsets during a succession plan. In a slight twist to how a role would normally be fulfilled, our strategy was to overlap the experience of industry veteran Neil Moffat (a Webmarteer for over two decades) with a procurement director that could work with our expansion. This way, we could transfer knowledge alongside providing continuity and fresh ideas at the same time.”

He said it was “amazing” to bring O’Sullivan back into the team after her client-side career. 

“Kelly’s experience of managing £100m-plus of print and marketing services suits our growth plans well as our strategy continues to accelerate and we expand.

He also said he was looking forward to working with her on Webmart’s sustainability services, and the recently-launched Enviromail climate positive postage offering, as well as the firm’s  data, creative and technology driven marketing solutions “that have been in high demand”.

“This is a slight twist as we develop our procurement offering and also support my role being less operational, now I’ve made my mark on the business running more profitably since becoming managing director,” he added. 

O’Sullivan said the Webmart offering fitted in perfectly with her own ethos. 

“Webmart is a truly innovative, agile and eco-conscious company, which aligns with my own values. I can’t wait to join the team to continue our journey together.”

Boon became managing director of the business in April 2020. He was previously sales and marketing director.

Pre-pandemic the firm had sales of more than £19m. This slipped to £13.9m in the Covid-19 impacted financial year to 31 March 2021, although operating profits increased from £173,562 to just under £350,000.