Retail appointments
Afterpay shuffles the deck
Afterpay Touch Group, a technology-driven payments company based in Melbourne, has announced a number of changes to its board and executive slate, in keeping with its transition from startup to a globally positioned ASX100 company.
Co-founders Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar will continue to be fully committed to the business, with both taking on executive positions while continuing to serve as executive directors.
Eisen will become CEO and managing director and will focus on managing the global business. Molnar is to be global chief revenue officer.
Elana Rubin, currently an independent, non-executive director, will be interim chairman until such time as a new chairman is appointed.
David Hancock, who assumed the role of group head following the merger of Afterpay and Touchcorp in mid-2017, will leave the company at the end of the financial year. He will assist in transferring the duties of that position to the new CEO.
Frerk-Malte Feller has just begun a newly created role of chief global operating officer. Barry Odes will become chief of staff.
The company is also transitioning to a majority independent board, with an independent chair. A global search is about to begin to recruit at least two more independent directors.
Kmart executive joins Flight Centre as CMO
Flight Centre Travel Group has appointed Joachim Holte as its new chief marketing officer. Holte has 18 years of diverse experience in Australia and overseas across the travel, retail, finance and media sectors, most recently as head of digital marketing at Kmart.
He has worked in Europe for ski travel agency Iglu.com and the product-comparison site Kelkoo. In 2004, he relocated to Australia and worked at both Wotif.com and Yahoo before heading up marketing at two startups, Ratecity.com.au and Wayfair Australia.
Sports Direct loses retail chief
Sports Direct, the UK’s leading retailer of sporting goods, has announced that its retail chief, Karen Byers, has quit after 28 years with the company. A replacement has not yet been hired.
Sports Direct was founded by Mike Ashley, and operates some 670 stores worldwide.
Superdry restocks the board
UK clothing retailer Superdry has appointed two former financial officers to its board, website RetailWeek reports.
Helen Weir is to become Superdry’s senior executive director. Weir was most recently CFO of Marks & Spencer from 2015 to 2018. Prior to that, she held the same role at John Lewis Partnership and has held senior finance roles at Lloyds Bank and Kingfisher. She is currently on the boards of Just East and the RFU.
Alastair Miller was CFO of New Look from 2000 to 2014. Since then, he has worked on a consultancy basis and served as senior independent director of property firm NewRiver. He will chair the retailer’s audit committee.
Superdry has been forced to populate its board rapidly, due to the wholesale walkout of the previous board, when co-founder Julian Dunkerton was re-elected after a campaign to restore him to a position of power at the retailer, which has performed poorly over the last year.
The retailer is still in the process of recruiting two more non-executive directors.
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