As it continues to focus on its turnaround, Burberry names regional chiefs to exec committee

Burberry is heavily focused on its turnaround at present and on Friday, the same day it reported encouraging Q1 results, it also announced some key executive committee moves.

See catwalk

Essentially, it has appointed its four regional presidents to the committee and with immediate effect, Claudia Kim who’s president Asia Pacific, Frank van Loon who has the same role in EMEIA, Josie Zhang who’s president Greater China, and Americas president Laura Dubin-Wander are part of the the company’s crucial leadership body.

Reporting to CEO Joshua Schulman, they’ll all continue to lead their respective regions while participating in executive committee decisions, strategy and operations. 

Burberry said the appointments reflect its “commitment to aligning leadership and decision-making more closely with the customer”.

It also follows the decision to remove its vacant chief commercial officer position.

The four president are all highly experienced execs.  Before  joining Burberry in 2018, Kim was GM at Bluebell Korea where she managed a portfolio of luxury fashion group brands within LVMH.

And van Loon, who joined in 2020, had been VP EMEIA at Tom Ford as well as having held senior leadership roles at Brunello Cucinelli.

Zhang has been with Burberry since 2016 and previously served as regional director at Christian Dior Couture.

And Dubin-Wander, who’s only been with the firm since last year, was the CEO of OTB Designer Brands, Americas. She’s also held senior leadership roles at Coach and Christian Dior Couture.

Schulman said that the “announcement recognises the important role Claudia, Frank, Josie and Laura have each had in strengthening our businesses globally and putting the voice of the customer at the heart of every decision we make. Their market insights and deep customer knowledge are invaluable, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with them to drive Burberry Forward”.