Superdry completes board rebuild

Superdry has rebuilt its board after an exodus earlier this year following the dramatic return to the helm of the company of its co-founder Julian Dunkerton.

It has today announced the appointment of two new non-executive directors. Georgina Harvey takes over as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee on 29 July. An experienced non-executive director, Harvey is also Senior Independent Director of and Chair of the Remuneration Committee of McColls Retail Group.

Prior to developing her portfolio career, Harvey spent seven years as Managing Director of Regionals at Trinity Mirror, sitting on the Executive Committee.

Also joining on 29 July is Faisal Galaria who recently stepped down as the Chief Strategy & Investment Officer of Gocompare Group, where he helped lead the listing on London Stock Exchange in November 2016 and oversaw several successful acquisitions.

Galaria has held senior roles at a number of leading global digital businesses including Spotify, Kayak.com and Skype, and immediately prior to joining Gocompare, built the European Digital and Media practices of the advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal.

The appointments follow on from those of former Marks & Spencer CFO Helen Weir and former New Look finance chief Alastair Miller who joined the board earlier this month.

Superdry chairman Peter Williams, a former chairman of Boohoo and ASOS, supported Dunkerton in his bid to re-gain control of the company earlier this year, after the co-founder left last spring later citing strategic differences with the then board.

Dunkerton narrowly won a shareholder vote to be re-instated and have Williams instated on the board triggering a mass exodus of the previous management, including its CEO Euan Sutherland.

Williams said of the latest appointments: "I am delighted to announce the appointment of these two outstanding individuals, who will prove strong additions to the Superdry Board. Georgina is a highly experienced non-executive director and remuneration committee chairman, while Faisal brings world-class digital expertise to the board, skills which I believe will be of huge benefit to the business.

"Along with the appointments of Helen Weir and Alastair Miller announced earlier this month, we now have the right Board to support the business as we set out to reinvigorate the Superdry brand and improve the financial performance of the company."

The company is reported to have hired headhunters to find a new CEO, as Dunkerton is holding this position on an interim basis only.