Burberry Names New Supply Chain, Customer Management Executives

LONDON – With sales on the upswing and improving performance in the U.S. and China, Burberry is reinforcing its top management team with two internal appointments.

The British brand has named Matteo Calonaci as chief operating and supply chain officer, and Johnattan Leon as chief customer officer. Both will join the executive committee, and report to Burberry‘s chief executive officer Joshua Schulman.

Calonaci is currently senior vice president of strategy and transformation at Burberry. In the new role, he will be responsible for overseeing supply chain and planning, strategy and transformation, and data and analytics.

He will succeed Klaus Bierbrauer, currently Burberry supply chain and industrial officer, who will be leaving the company following the brand’s runway show next February and a transition period.

Leon currently serves as Burberry’s senior vice president of commercial and chief of staff. As chief customer officer, he will lead Burberry’s customer, client engagement, customer service and retail excellence teams, while overseeing Burberry’s digital, outlet and commercial operations.

Schulman said the appointments “reflect the exceptional talent and leadership we have at Burberry. Both Matteo and Johnattan have been instrumental in strengthening our focus on executional excellence and elevating our customer experience. Their deep understanding of our business, our people, and our customers gives me full confidence that their leadership will help drive Burberry forward.”

As reported last month, like-for-like retail sales grew 2 percent in the second fiscal quarter, outstripping analysts’ expectations of flat year-on-year performance. It was also an improvement on the first quarter, when retail sales were down 1 percent.

In the first half, like-for-like retail sales were flat at 854 million pounds. But it was still a win for Burberry, which had reported a 20 percent decline in the corresponding period last year.

Burberry’s chief financial officer Kate Ferry said last month that the third quarter had “started well” and trends are in line with the second quarter. She said Burberry is anticipating further incremental growth in the second half.

Burberry’s sales declines have been steadily narrowing under Schulman, with progress boosting the share price nearly 40 percent over the past 12 months. On Friday, shares were up 2.2 percent to 12.40 pounds in mid-morning trading.