Appointments to the Senior Executive Committee
21 SEP 2017
Richemont, the Swiss luxury goods group, wishes to announce the following appointments to its Senior Executive Committee.
Chief Technology Officer
Dr Jean-Jacques van Oosten has been appointed to the newly created role of Chief Technology Officer and will join the Senior Executive Committee effective 1 January 2018.
Dr van Oosten’s twenty one-year career has been primarily in the retail and digital sectors. Prior to his latest role as Group Chief Digital Officer and CEO of Rewe Digital, Dr van Oosten held a number of CIO positions at Travis Perkins Group, Tesco, Kingfisher, EDS and Unilever. Through his consulting company, Dr van Oosten advised retailers on their multichannel strategy, roadmap and transformation programmes. He graduated from the London Business School and holds a PhD in molecular genetics.
Group Human Resources Director
Ms Sophie Guieysse has been appointed Group Human Resources Director and will join the Senior Executive Committee effective 1 October 2017.
A graduate from the Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Ms Guieysse began her career holding operational functions at a number of French Ministries. From 1997 until 2005, she held various human resources roles at LVMH. Her ultimate role there was as Director of Human Resources of the LVMH group. In 2005, Ms Guieysse joined Canal + group where she spent ten years as Human Resources Director and member of the Executive Committee. Since 2016, Ms Guieysse had been advising Dior on the future of luxury in a connected world.
Ms Guieysse will succeed Mr Thomas Lindemann who will leave Richemont for personal reasons and step down from the Group Management Committee with effect from 31 October 2017. Mr Lindemann was appointed Group Human Resources Director and member of the Group Management Committee in 2005. Prior to that, he held the role of Human Resources Director first at Montblanc and then at Richemont Northern Europe.
Commenting on the changes, Mr Johann Rupert, Chairman, said:
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“I am delighted that Jean-Jacques van Oosten and Sophie Guieysse are joining Richemont and its Senior Executive Committee. The creation of the Chief Technology Officer position and Jean-Jacques van Oosten’s appointment reaffirms Richemont’s commitment to meet the demands of today’s environment. Jean-Jacques van Oosten brings over fifteen years of experience in scaling, transforming and internationalising online and multichannel businesses. Sophie Guieysse brings a twenty-year Human Resources experience across diverse cultural environments in the luxury and digital sectors.
These appointments will strengthen significantly the Group's ability to address current challenges and bring Richemont into a new era of agility and performance.
I want also to take this opportunity to thank Thomas Lindemann for his contribution to the Group over the last twenty years and the progress made during his tenure as Group Human Resources Director. He has established a highly professional team in Geneva and a strong human resource function across all our platforms. We wish Thomas every success in his future endeavours.”
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About Richemont
Richemont owns a portfolio of leading international ‘Maisons’ which are recognised for their distinctive heritage, craftsmanship and creativity. The Group operates in three segments: Jewellery Maisons, being Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Giampiero Bodino; Specialist watchmakers, being A. Lange & Söhne, Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Officine Panerai, Piaget, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin as well as the Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewellery joint venture; and Other, including Alfred Dunhill, Azzedine Alaïa, Chloé, Lancel, Montblanc and Peter Millar as well as watch component manufacturing activities.
In addition, Richemont holds a 49% equity-accounted interest in the YOOX Net-A-Porter Group, a publicly traded company.
For the financial year ended 31 March 2017, Richemont reported sales of € 10 647 million, operating profit of € 1 764 million and profit for the year of € 1 210 million.
Richemont ‘A’ shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, Richemont’s primary listing, and are included in the Swiss Market Index ('SMI') of leading stocks. Richemont South African Depository Receipts are listed in Johannesburg, Richemont’s secondary listing.