Burberry seeks new chairman, names ex-Saks exec Frasch to board

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 22, 2017

Burberry’s long-time chairman Sir John Peace is planning to leave the firm with the departure of the 68-year-old executive set to mark the final break from Burberry’s past. It was spun off from catalogue retail GUS (formerly Great Universal Stores) in 2002  the Peace was GUS’s CEO.

The announcement that he will go (although we don’t know when) comes as Marco Gobbetti takes over as Burberry CEO while Christopher Bailey steps down as chief executive but becomes president in addition to his creative role.

Burberry is making other changes too and is drafting in top talent from outside the organisation. It said Ron Frasch, who was formerly vice-chairman, president and chief merchandising officer of Saks Fifth Avenue has been appointed to the board as a non-executive director and member of the remuneration and nomination committees, with effect from September 1. 

And Jeremy Darroch has been appointed as senior independent director (SID) with effect from 1 July, replacing Philip Bowman who has held this role for a number of years. He has been a non-executive director since February 2014 and is chair of the audit committee. Bowman is remaining a director at the request of the board “to provide continuity during a period of significant change,” and will step down from the board on October 31.

Darroch will now be responsible for leading the process of appointing a successor to Peace with the company expecting an announcement to be made “by the end of 2018.”