New Look board appoints new Non-Executive member as John Gnodde steps down

Fast fashion retailer, New Look has announced Stuart MacKenzie has joined its board of directors as a Non-Executive member, replacing John Gnodde.

In 2015, Gnodde joined the New Look board as Non-Executive chairman and then becoming a Non-Executive director in 2017.

As a board member, he represented the interests of Brait, which owns a 18.5% stake in New Look. Gnodde has been with the group for 25 years and stepped down as CEO of Brait SA in February and left the New Look board on 1 March.

Stuart MacKenzie, will be taking over his role at the fast fashion retailer. He was previously Chief Executive Officer at Ethos Private Equity and also Brait’s new corporate adviser. Since 2014, MacKenzie has been leading Ethos with his rich history and valuable experience from a range of industries including private equity and venture capital value chains.

The boards update revealed Brait’s new business strategy. The South African company, which also controls the Iceland supermarket chain and gym group Virgin Active, is planning to sell off various shares and assets, including the New Look interest, in the next five years.

In 2015, the business paid £780m to become the majority owner of New Look. However, last year, Brait was forced to transfer a great part of its stake to bondholders following a refinancing deal.

New Look chairman Alistair McGeorge said: “On behalf of the board I would like to thank John for his support and contribution to New Look over the last five years. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors."

He added: “I am delighted to welcome Stuart to the board. We look forward to working with him and benefitting from his expertise.”

Read New Look’s profile in our master data base on fashion, The Intelligence.