European e-retailer Zalando announces refined management board setup

The Zalando supervisory board has also appointed Dr Sandra Dembeck as new chief financial officer (CFO), who will be responsible for the finance and group governance teams.

The changes align the setup to the future needs of Zalando in further advancing its strategic agenda of being the Starting Point for Fashion and to grow the business to more than €30 billion in Gross Merchandise Volume by 2025, as laid out at its Capital Market Days in 2019 and 2021, the company said in a media release.

Zalando continues to focus on three strategic dimensions: growing its active customer base and deepening customer relationships, driving the transition towards a platform business, and building a sustainable platform with a net-positive impact on people and the planet.

Zalando is creating the role of COO to focus on building and scaling Zalando’s unique capabilities to enable the company’s growth. The COO will be responsible for scaling the company’s European logistics network, driving innovation of Zalando’s proprietary Buy Now Pay Later solution and unlocking new growth opportunities for Zalando by empowering the direct-to-consumer business of partners across a variety of channels. Schröder, who has served on the management board since 2019, will assume this newly created role due to his highly relevant expertise and successful track record in building and scaling Zalando’s operations since he joined the company in 2010.

Dr Sandra Dembeck will join Zalando as CFO on March 1, 2022, from Compass Group Plc, where she has previously been corporate finance director. Throughout her career, she has been responsible for all aspects of financial performance management and reporting for private and listed companies and has taken an active role in driving commercial and operational business performance. She has extensive experience from various leadership roles in the international services, retail and fashion industries.

Cristina Stenbeck, chairperson of the Zalando supervisory board, said: “The supervisory board is very much looking forward to continuing to work with David Schröder in his new role as COO, after his tremendous contribution as CFO. We are also proud to welcome Dr Sandra Dembeck as CFO. Sandra brings a breadth of financial expertise from a multitude of relevant industries.”

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KD)