Burberry board loses two members

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
May 16, 2019

Stephanie George and Ian Carter are stepping down as non-executive directors of Burberry after the annual general meeting on 17 July, the British fashion house announced on Thursday.

The announcement came hours after the brand led by Marco Gobbetti as CEO and Riccardo Tisci as creative director revealed flat sales of £2.72 billion for the year to March 30.

Ian Carter joined the label in 2007 and is currently president of Hilton Global Development. Prior to that he was chief executive officer of Hilton International Company and executive vice president of Hilton Hotels Corporation.

Stephanie George has been on the Burberry board for more than 13 years since 2006. Her background is in fashion media, having held several roles of varying responsibility at Fairchild Media before rising to vice chairman of the company. She was also previously president of InStyle magazine.

Gerry Murphy, chairman, said: “We will miss Ian and Stephanie's wise counsel and thank them both for their outstanding service to Burberry during a period of enormous growth and value creation. On behalf of the board I would like to thank them for their dedication and wish them well for the future.”

Burberry has embarked on a process of transformation to take the brand more upmarket after losing momentum with British and international shoppers. Now under the creative direction of Riccardo Tisci, the company is putting a heavy focus on building its luxury credentials by launching limited-edition monthly drops and engaging young consumers on social media platforms.