Several board members of Otto Group to depart for subsidiary Crate and Barrel

By

Emily Jensen

Published
May 9, 2017

Lifestyle brand Crate and Barrel and its parent company Otto Group announced various changes to its leadership. Neela Montgomery will assume the role of CEO at the company, following her time an executive board member for the brand’s parent company.

 
Montgomery’s appointment will take effect on August 1. She will replace Doug Diemoz, who served as the Illinois-based company’s CEO for two years. During her time as a board member of Otto Group, Montgomery oversaw much of Crate and Barrel’s development. “I am looking forward to developing the company further by taking over not only strategic but now also operational responsibility,” Montgomery said of her new position.
 
Montgomery joined the Otto Group board in 2014. The 42-year-old was previously an executive at the British company Tesco Plc. As leader of the Otto Group’s Multichannel Retail strategy, she has been actively involved in several of the company’s subsidiaries, including Crate and Barrel. “Though we will miss her strategic and creative force on the Group Executive Board, Crate and Barrel gains a passionate global leader,” said Dr Michael Otto, Chairman of the Otto Group Supervisory Board.

Montgomery is not the only one to transition from the Otto Group’s board to the American company. Alexander Birken, previously CEO of Otto Group, will become Crate and Barrel’s Chairman of the Board starting August 1.
 
Along with Montgomery’s and Birken’s departures, Hanjo Schneider will also leave the Otto Group executive board at the end of the year. Schneider, who previously oversaw Hermes’ executive management, will remain at Otto group as a non-executive advisor. Shneider was asked to extend his contract from 2016 to another year following his success at Hermes. “Hanjo Schneider has turned Hermes into a powerful, successful, pan-European services network that also enjoys an excellent reputation with customers outside the Otto Group,” Otto said.
 
Crate and Barrel, which encompasses the brands Crate & Barrel, CB2 and Land of Nod, is the Otto Group’s largest foreign company. The company, which is based outside of Chicago, earned revenues last year of more than 1.4 billion euros and oversees 6,800 employees.
 
Otto Group, which was founded by Wener Otto in 1949, is based in Germany and owns a wide range of international companies in the retail sector. The group has yet to announce who will fill the now vacant positions.