Pandora poaches H&M chief as CCO

Martino Pessina is set to leave H&M to become the new chief commercial officer at Pandora, the Danish jewellery firm announced on Tuesday.

He has spent close to 20 years at the Swedish fashion retailer, holding various roles across retail, sales, merchandising and operations. His current job title is president of H&M North America, a role he has held since 2018.

Joining Pandora on 2 April, Pessina will become a key part of the company’s new corporate structure. He will lead the 10 new clusters, overseeing commercial operations across the company’s more than 100 markets.

Pessina will also manage a ‘retail centre of excellence’, designed to improve global merchandising, store development, planning and execution, and lead the new Network & Franchise Management function overseeing the retail and franchise business.

“As part of our turnaround programme, we are strengthening the organisation and moving Pandora closer to consumers. Martino has an impressive track record in international mass-market fashion retail and will play a very important role in this transformation. He is a natural leader with excellent analytical skills and a deep understanding of shoppers,” said CEO Alexander Lacik.

Pandora, which has closed all directly-operated stores in Italy, Spain, German, France, the US and the UK, has revealed that like-for-like sales in China have fallen by up to 80% since late January due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, the Copenhagen-based business pulled its earnings guidance last week and suspended a treasury share buy-back.

Pandora poaches H&M chief as CCO

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