Brands
Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta announced the appointment of Matthieu Blazy as creative director, succeeding Daniel Lee after the company and Lee announced their joint decision to end their collaboration last week.
Blazy started his fashion career as men’s designer for Raf Simons, before joining Maison Martin Margiela to design the Artisanal line and the women’s RTW show. In 2014, he became senior designer at Céline, before working again with Simons at Calvin Klein from 2016 to 2019. He was appointed RTW design director at Bottega Veneta in 2020.
Blazy will present his first collection for Bottega Veneta in February.
Lee had been at the creative helm of Bottega Veneta since July 2018. Bottega Veneta is owned by global luxury group Kering.
Versace
Capri Holdings Limited announced the appointment of Cedric Wilmotte as interim CEO of Versace, effective Jan. 17.
Wilmotte will report to John D. Idol, chairman and CEO of parent company Capri Holdings. Wilmotte will serve as the interim CEO of Versace through Dec. 31, 2022, during which time he will partner closely with Donatella Versace, chief creative officer, and the leadership team to continue executing the brand’s strategic initiatives.
Wilmotte brings with him many years of luxury retail experience, including a 13-year tenure with Michael Kors as the president of the EMEA region.
Capri Holdings will continue to conduct a search for a permanent replacement for Jonathan Akeroyd, departing CEO of Versace, who will leave the brand on March 31.
House of LR&C
The House of LR&C, a fashion company founded by Ciara, Russell Wilson and Christine Day and focused on a mission to impact people and the planet, appointed David Adelman to its board of directors.
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Adelman has made an investment in The House of LR&C and is focused on assembling the next pool of potential investors as the fashion house continues to prioritize growing purposeful and disruptive national brands. As a Philadelphia-based entrepreneur, he is the founder of Darco Capital, which has made over 60 venture capital and growth capital investments.
The company also announced it was bolstering internal resources with the addition of apparel industry executives Sheree Waterson and Gemo Wong as advisors. Waterson is a seasoned fashion and retail executive, formerly chief product officer with Athleta and Lululemon and president of Speedo North America. Wong’s expertise in design in footwear and apparel spans 20 years, including his role as the senior design director at Nike for the Jordan Brand.
The House of LR&C brands include Good Man Brand, Human Nation and LITA by Ciara.
Retail
Casper Sleep
Casper Sleep Inc. announced that Emilie Arel, who serves as president and chief commercial officer at the company, was appointed CEO, assuming the role from Casper co-founder Philip Krim.
Arel has led Casper’s commercial and brand strategy. Previously, she was CEO of Full Beauty, a plus-size apparel company.
Casper has a full portfolio of engineered sleep products, including mattresses, pillows, bedding and furniture. In addition to its e-commerce business, Casper owns and operates Sleep Shops across North America and its products are available at a growing list of retailers.
Stitch Fix
Stitch Fix Inc., an online personalized shopping experience, announced Linda Aiello joined the company as chief people and culture officer.
Aiello joined Stitch Fix from Salesforce and will report to Stitch Fix CEO Elizabeth Spaulding. She will lead the people and culture teams across the U.S. and the U.K.
Aiello was previously the executive vice president of employee success business partners at Salesforce, where she ran the global employee-facing human resources organization and focused on international growth and expansion, M&A integration, and scaling culture and service.
Logistics
DHL
DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight specialist of DHL Group, announced that Tobias Schmidt took over as CEO DHL Global Forwarding Europe.
He succeeds Thomas George, who has successfully managed the European organization since 2016. Schmidt will report to Tim Scharwath, CEO DHL Global Forwarding, Freight, and continue to lead the German and Swiss organization in a dual function.
George will now focus on his global function as chief commercial officer, for which he was appointed earlier this year, and continue to report to Scharwath as member of the Global Forwarding board.
Schmidt joined the company in April 2019 as CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Germany and focused on performance improvement and business growth. In his latest position as CEO DHL Global Forwarding Germany and Switzerland, he enhanced the market position in countries by leveraging the collaboration and synergies between the two countries.
IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Marie Owens Thomsen will join the association as its chief economist, effective Jan. 4.
Owens Thomsen will come from Banque Lombard Odier, where she has served as head of global trends and sustainability since 2020. Prior to that, she was the long-time global head of investment intelligence at Indosuez Wealth Management from 2011 to 2020.
Owens Thomsen succeeds Brian Pearce, who retired from IATA earlier this year after serving as chief economist since 2004.
GS1
The GS1 US board of governors elected Julia M. Landry, vice president of commercial operations at the J.M. Smucker Company, to join the board.
Landry joins an accomplished group of leaders who help guide the GS1 US strategy in support of members’ adoption and use of GS1 Standards for e-commerce, supply chain visibility and product traceability. The cross-industry board of governors represents companies in apparel, general merchandise, retail grocery, food service and healthcare.
Landry oversees the systems/tools, data, processes and capability building for marketing and sales at J.M. Smucker. Prior to that, Landry served in several roles across product supply at Procter & Gamble.
GS1 US, a member of GS1 global, is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to help improve supply chain visibility and efficiency.
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Juniper
Juniper appointed Justin Jackson as chief revenue officer with responsibility for helping customers optimize and expand their use of the Juniper platform to grow their business and expand their customer base.
Jackson will oversee Juniper’s sales and customer success teams, reporting directly to Bill Furlong, Juniper CEO. Jackson joins Juniper just weeks before the launch of Juniper Market. Powered by International Market Centers (IMC), the new B2B e-commerce marketplace will connect brands and sales agencies with buyers globally.
Jackson was most recently chief sales officer for Materialbank.com, giving him first-hand familiarity with the business needs and sourcing opportunities in the interiors and home furnishings businesses.
Juniper senior director of sales Teddy Pekalski and his team will report to Jackson, as will Juniper’s 50-person customer success team, led by vice president Marisa Garcia. Jackson also will work closely with IMC’s senior leadership, to meet customer needs through collaborative development of new business solutions across all business channels.
Juniper offers a sales automation and commerce platform, Juniper Commerce, combined with Juniper Market to empower sales teams, streamline product data management and deliver real-time visibility across channels. Juniper is powered by IMC, the world’s largest owner and operator of premier wholesale showroom space for the furniture, home décor, gift and apparel industries.