Burberry in search for new chairman as Peace indicates departure

British luxury house Burberry has revealed its chairman Sir John Peace is planning to stand down; the news comes just weeks before new CEO Marco Gobbetti is due to take up his post.

Sir John has been chairman of Burberry since it was spun out of GUS via an IPO in 2002 and the search for his replacement will be conducted by Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch who was named as senior independent director yesterday (21 June).

Darroch has been a non-executive director of Burberry since 2014 and is chair of its audit committee. In his new position he replaces Philip Bowman who has held the position for a number of years and who has stood down.

The business has also appointed Ron Frasch as non-executive director and member of the remuneration and nomination committees, with effect from 1 September 2017.  Frasch previously held the positions of president and chief merchandising officer, and vice chairman of Saks Fifth Avenue between 2004 and 2013, and was CEO of Bergdorf Goodman between 2000 and 2004. He is currently an operating partner of private equity house Castanea Partners and a non-executive director of Crocs.

"On behalf of the board I would like to welcome Jeremy to his new role and to thank Philip for his immense contribution to Burberry since the IPO in 2002.  The board and I have greatly appreciated Philip's wise counsel and he will be missed by us all," said Peace.  

"We are delighted to welcome Ron to the board. His great understanding of product and broad experience of working with a wide range of luxury brands will be a great asset to Burberry as we continue to focus on delivering long term shareholder value," he added.

Gobbetti was recruited from French luxury house Céline and has been heading up Burberry's APAC business since earlier this year. He will take over the CEO responsibility from Christopher Bailey next month after Bailey was forced to relinquish that part of his joint role of chief creative officer and CEO - a position he stepped into following the departure of former CEO Angela Ahrendts to Apple in 2013 - due to objections from shareholders.

Bailey will take up the position of president and chief creative officer after Gobbetti assumes his post and both Gobbetti and Bailey will report into Peace. It is anticipated a replacement for Peace will be announced by the end of 2018.