JD Sports announces chief executive appointment
JD Sports has appointed Régis Schultz as its new chief executive following a worldwide search process.
Schultz will join the sportswear retailer from Dubai based Al-Futtaim Group where he has been working as president of retail since 2019.
He also has more than a decade’s experience in chief executive roles at major retail businesses including Monoprix, France’s leading city-centre food and fashion retailer. Whilst there, he launched and executed a new digital strategy, signed a partnership with Amazon, and concluded the first international partnership with Ocado. He has also previously held senior roles at B&Q, Kingfisher and Castorama.
Schultz is expected to join JD in September at which time Kath Smith will undertake a full handover of her duties before resuming her former role as senior independent director on the board.
JD said Schultz has a strong track record of effecting transformational change through digitisation, driving multichannel growth strategies and working across international markets.
Andrew Higginson, non-executive chair of JD, said: “The board has taken this opportunity to conduct a truly global search to find the right candidate to lead JD on the next stage in its development.
“Régis brings exactly the characteristics we were looking for. He is a retailer through and through with experience across all types of retail formats. He has also delivered transformational change through digitisation in a number of his roles.
“Finally, he has significant international experience which will be very important as he works with myself and our senior team to execute on our growth strategy. We very much look forward to Régis joining us.”
