Asos strengthens board with two non exec appointments
Asos has announced the appointment of Google’s senior finance Director Natasja Laheij and CEO of Spanish fashion brand Bimba y Lola Jose Manuel Martinéz Gutiérrez as independent non-executive directors.
Both Laheij and Martinéz Gutiérrez will join the board on April 11 and serve on the Audit Committee. Laheij will also act as a member of the Remuneration committee.
The current chair of the audit committee Patrick Kennedy has stepped down from the board to focus on other business activities. He will be replaced as senior independent director of the company by Mai Fyfield, who joined the board in 2019.
Laheij has more than 25 years of experience in international ecommerce and tech through her roles in Deloitte Australia, Sony Ericsson, Apple and as CFO Amazon Fashion Europe. She is currently Google’s Senior Finance Director for Google EMEA, Chair of the board of Google Payments Ltd. and Audit Chair of Vandemoortele, she is based in London.
Martinéz Gutiérrez comes with 30 years of experience in retail and fashion, initially as a strategy consultant at McKinsey before moving into leadership roles at international fashion businesses. At Inditex, he was Director of Distribution and Operations, responsible for the global product distribution model of the group. He later served for six years as CEO and Executive Director of Hong Kong listed Esprit. Since 2018, Jose Manuel is CEO and Executive Director of Spanish fashion brand Bimba y Lola.
Jørgen Lindemann, ASOS Chairman, said: “On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to welcome Natasja and Jose Manuel to Asos whose addition will further broaden and deepen the expertise on the Board.”
“Natasja brings a wealth of highly relevant commercial and financial experience gained across several leading tech and growth businesses, including as CFO of Amazon Fashion Europe. Jose Manuel joins with extensive fashion and supply chain expertise. The Board will greatly benefit from Natasja and Jose’s insight and oversight, and we look forward to working closely with them.”
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Patrick for the important contribution he has made to ASOS, in particular his contribution to ASOS’ move to the Main Market and his support during a period of management and Board transition. We wish him well for the future.”
