Lyst strengthens leadership team and promotes founder to executive chair role

Global fashion shopping app Lyst has reshuffled its senior management team with founder and boss Chris Morton moving to an executive chairman role, where he will focus exclusively on Strategy, Partnerships and Financing initiatives.

The company’s Chief Operating Officer Emma McFerran will replace Morton as CEO in September 2022. Since joining the company in 2014, Lyst has credited McFerran with overseeing the company’s transformation into an app-first business and making the Lyst app "the most downloaded premium fashion app in the US and UK in 2021".

According to a recent statement, Lyst has more than 200 million annual users and has a range of products from 17,000 brands and stores including Burberry, Balenciaga and Valentino.

In May 2021, the company raised raised £60 million ($85 million) to invest in growing the business ahead of a potential IPO.

The board also appointed Liz Kistruck as its new CFO. Kistruck was formerly a senior leader at Expedia for over a decade and Hotel.com's CFO. She joins a C-suite of female and male platform industry leaders from Amazon, Spotify, Just Eat and Net-a-Porter.

Morton said: "The market is accelerating and changing fast in the current environment - both of these offer tremendous tailwinds for our business. I want to focus 100% on supporting our company strategically at this key moment for us."

McFerran added: “Our time is now. It’s thrilling to take on this position, leading an exceptional team as we shift gears and prepare for the next and most exciting phase of the Lyst journey.

"Over many years Chris and I have built a powerful partnership, sharing a vision and a deep commitment to making Lyst the winning model for our customers and partners. This new team structure allows us to better realize our company’s immense potential, and take Lyst to the next level.”