Jewellery brand Pandora has appointed Martino Pessina as its chief
commercial officer following its announcement earlier this month to
establish a “consumer-focused business with a strengthened leadership
team”.
Experienced retail executive Pessina will take up the newly established
chief commercial officer on April 2, joining the jewellery brand from H&M,
where he most recently served as president of its North America operations.
The new position will be the “cornerstone” in Pandora’s new operating
model, confirmed the jewellery brand, and Pessina will be responsible for
commercial operations across the company’s more than 100 markets, and he
will manage a retail centre of excellence to improve global merchandising,
store development, planning and execution.
Pessina, who will be reporting to chief executive Alexander Lacik and
serve on Pandora’s executive leadership team, will also lead a new function
called Network and Franchise Management overseeing the retail estate and
supporting franchise partners globally, leading the company’s continued
commercial turnaround.
H&M executive Martino Pessina joins Pandora as chief commercial
officer
Commenting on the new appointment, Lacik said in a statement: “As part
of our turnaround programme, we are strengthening the organisation and
moving Pandora closer to consumers.
“Martino has an impressive track record in international mass-market
fashion retail and will play a very important role in this transformation.
He is a natural leader with excellent analytical skills and a deep
understanding of shoppers. I am very happy to welcome him to our leadership
team.”
Pessina, added: “Pandora is the world’s largest jewellery brand with a
retail network touching millions of consumers. The company is now on a
journey to step-change the relevance and reach of the brand, and that is
incredibly exciting for me to be part of. I look forward to joining the
team and contribute to the next steps in Pandora’s transformation.”
In March, Pandora announced a reorganisation of the
company, closing its three regional organisations to eliminate an
organisational layer between global headquarters and the local markets, and
instead grouping the 100 markets into 10 clusters, each headed by a general
manager based in the largest market in the cluster.
As a consequence of the strategic reorganisation, 180 employees from
Pandora’s regional offices and markets have been made redundant, with the
three current regional presidents stepping down from the executive
leadership team.
Image: courtesy of Pandora
