Countrywide has made another major out-of-industry appointment and merged its sales and lettings divisions.

Samantha Tyrer, who joins from Dixons Carphone, will be heading up the chain’s agency business.

She is a key recruit for Alison Platt, Countrywide’s CEO who joined last September from Bupa, also without previous property experience.

The appointment means that out of six people driving the Countrywide business until this spring, just three are now left on the executive team but another high-profile departure is imminent, which will leave two.

Bob Scarff, Nick Dunning and – shortly – Nigel Stockton are the known departures. It is understood that Alyn North, formerly chief finance and operating officer for London and premier and commercial divisions, has also left within the last few days.

New appointee Tyrer takes on the chain’s sales and lettings businesses in her new role as managing director of retail.

She comes from a background where Sir Charles Dunstone’s Carphone Warehouse and Dixons merged last year in a £3.8bn deal, criticised as “two past-their-sell-by dates merging” in a cost-cutting exercise.

Tyrer was sales and services director at Carphone Warehouse, where she was responsible for 8,500 people across 1,100 branches, and her experience includes leading a “new digital strategy, transforming the customer journey”, according to the Countrywide announcement.

The Countrywide announcement says: “Sam’s vast retail experience will be instrumental in leading the transformation of our sales and lettings businesses.”

Tyrer’s appointment to the Countrywide executive team follows the abrupt departures this spring of Countrywide’s head of estate agency business, Bob Scarff, and Nick Dunning, who had been largely in charge of lettings.

Scarff left at the end of May after 37 years, saying only that he will not be leaving the industry.

While sales and lettings at Countrywide now become a single entity, a spokesperson told Eye that John Hards and Margaret Longden continue as joint managing directors of Countrywide Residential Lettings.

In addition to Tyrer’s appointment, other changes have been made to Countrywide’s executive team which “will lay the foundations for delivering the ambitions of our Building our Future programme”.

Nigel Stockton, the high-profile financial services director, will remain on the team for just under two months before quitting the mortgage industry.

He leaves on September 1 to become chief executive of wealth management business Bellpenny – chaired by Stockton’s old boss Grenville Turner, ex-Countrywide CEO and now its chairman.

Bellpenny is owned by Oaktree Capital Mangagement, which has a stake in Countrywide.

Stockton is replaced by Peter Curran, who will become managing director of financial services.

Andrew Pennells, formerly sales director with Countrywide’s estate agency division, becomes “group transformation & change director”.

In his new role he will “focus on leading the transformational change agenda” as part of Countrywide’s Building our Future programme.

Group HR director Kate Brown who, like Alison Platt, joined from Bupa, is another member of the new executive team, alongside chief financial officer Jim Clarke, and Graham Bell who has been appointed managing director, London.

CEO Platt said: “I firmly believe the [new] executive team has the experience and passion to create the best environment and structure for our people to deliver outstanding customer experience while ensuring we make the most of all the opportunities in the UK property sector, both residential and commercial.”