H&M’s Stefan Persson to step down as chairman
H&M has announced that Stefan Persson is to step down as its chairman and be succeeded by Karl-Johan Persson, who is currently the fashion retailer’s chief executive.
The change will happen at the company’s AGM in May.
In a statement, Stefan Persson said: “It is a natural change, after 20 years as chairman, to hand over to Karl-Johan, who has been chief executive for more than 10 years. I will continue to be a committed owner, just as today, but from a different position.
“In addition, the timing is favourable for making this change now since we have gradually improved profits and have a strong position with many well-established brands, millions of customers worldwide and good financial strength. We have moved from one brand to become a multi-brand company with today nine brands.
“In recent years we have made substantial and necessary investments in our joint group infrastructure – mostly in logistics, tech, data and AI – investments that now are starting to pay off in terms of increased customer satisfaction, sales and profits.”
In addition, H&M chief operating officer Helena Helmersson has been appointed as the new chief executive of the company.
Helmersson began working with H&M in 1997 as an economist in its buying department. As chief operating officer, she was responsible for expansion, logistics, production, IT, advanced analytics and AI, insights and analytics.
Karl-Johan Persson said: ”I feel confident in handing over the chief executive role to Helena, who is an experienced and great leader who embodies our values. Helena will continue to work on the plan that we have adopted for 2020 and onwards. I am very proud of the tremendous work that our colleagues have done during these years and the fact that together we have laid the foundation for a bright future.”
