Inditex restructures French management team

The Inditex group's management team in France has undergone a major reshuffle. According to information confirmed by FashionNetwork.com, the company's CEO in France, Jean-Jacques Salaün, will be stepping down from his position on February 1, 2023. This represents a considerable change of leadership in the region, which the executive has led since 2001. He will be succeeded by the company's current human resources director in Europe, Virginie Reiss, who will take over as head of operations for Zara, Zara Home, Stradivarius, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Oysho and Massimo Dutti in France.

This new development is yet another in a list of changes for Inditex, such as the departure of former CEO Carlos Crespo just a few days ago, since Marta Ortega took over the company's presidency on April 1.

However, Salaün will not be leaving the Spanish company like other executives, but will take on new responsibilities within the group''s subsidiary management and international general management after having led the French region for more than two decades. This has been confirmed by the general management of Inditex in France when contacted by FashionNetwork.com.

For his part, the CEO of the company based in Arteixo, A Coruña, Óscar García Maceiras has indicated that the French executive's experience "will continue to be very useful in his future responsibilities at Inditex." Likewise, Maceiras underlined the "contribution of Jean-Jacques in establishing the Inditex group in France and his commitment to social issues, with promoting, among other things, the 'Jeunes' project for the social and professional integration of disadvantaged youth," which Salaün has been promoting since 2005.

After working for French retailer Carrefour, Salaün took over the management of Zara France in 2001. At that time, the conglomerate had not yet begun to expand in the country nor had it introduced the rest of its brands. The group has been present in the country since 1988 and had a turnover of 140 million euros in France during the year in which the French manager joined the company.

Since then, as in other international markets, the Spanish company's figures have multiplied. Today, Inditex has a network of 266 stores (116 Zara stores) in the country. Last year, the market accumulated around 1.5 billion euros in France, out of the 27.7 billion euros invoiced by the company founded by Amancio Ortega on a global scale.

This transition will be underpinned by the textile group's investment in internal talent. Virginie Reiss, head of human resources in Europe for the past 14 years, will succeed Salaün as head of the French market.

"She is someone with whom I share the most important values to occupy a position like this one: human values. We can also see that she is the result of internal promotion, given that Virginie started her career as a store saleswoman. Just goes to show that anything is possible at our company," said Salaün in an internal statement to the company's employees, to which FashionNetwork.com was able to have access.

The former CEO also indicated that his departure will involve "taking on more international responsibilities once the transition has been completed." In addition, Salaün thanked the "exceptional teams" that he has had the pleasure of leading for 22 years.

During the first half of the year, the Spanish group saw its profit grow by 41% to 1.79 billion euros. Turnover grew by 25% at constant exchange rates to 14.8 billion euros. On Wednesday, December 14, Inditex will be announcing its third-quarter financial results.

Inditex restructures French management team

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