ASOS appoints Ocado tech chief to board

ASOS has announced it is refreshing its leadership board with the appointment of four independent non-executive directors, including Luke Jensen, the chief executive of Ocado’s technology division.

The online fashion giant announced that Karen Geary, Mai Fyfield and Eugenia Ulasewicz would also be joining its board of directors, as it looks to beef up its leadership team and reassure investors following a series of surprise profit warnings.

Jensen has been chief executive of Ocado Solutions, the logistics and automation division of Ocado, since 2017 and joined the board of Ocado Group in 2018. He was previously a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group and group development director at Sainsbury’s, where he had overall responsibility for online and customer-facing digital activities.

His appointment to the ASOS board will be effective from 1 November and he will also join the audit and nomination committees.

Geary meanwhile, has extensive experience in the technology industry following roles as chief human resources officer, non-executive director and chair of the remuneration committee at Micro Focus International, chief people officer at Wandisco, and as chief people officer at Sage Group.

She will join ASOS’ board and the audit and nomination committees with immediate effect. She will take up the role of chair of the remuneration committee on 1 December.

Fyfield has previously held roles as chief commercial and strategy officer at Sky, and currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of Roku, BBC Commercial Holdings and Nationwide Building Society.

Finally, Ulasewicz was president of Americas for Burberry Group from 1998 to 2013 and previously held senior retail positions with Bloomingdale's, Galeries Lafayette and Saks Fifth Avenue. She currently holds non-executive roles with Bunzl, Signet Jewellers, Vince Holding and Hudson Group.

In a statement, ASOS said the new board members and expanded board structure reflect the company’s increased size and scale.

The new non-executive directors will take up positions due to be vacated by current non-executive directors Hilary Riva and Rita Clifton, who will both come to the end of their six-year tenures in April 2020 and will depart on a date to be announced in due course.

Adam Crozier, chairman of ASOS, said: "On behalf of the board, I'd like to warmly welcome Karen, Luke, Mai and Eugenia to ASOS. Their world-class experience, skills, and expertise will be essential in guiding the business through the next stage of global growth, fuelled by the substantial investments it has made over the past few years.”

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