Richemont’s newly-appointed CTO Jean-Jacques Van Oosten leaves
With a brief communiqué issued on Thursday, Swiss luxury group Richemont announced the departure of its newly-appointed CTO Jean-Jacques Van Oosten. Van Oosten resigned from his post in early May “for personal reasons,” wrote Richemont, adding that it wished to respect “his decision to pursue a career away from the group.”
Bad news for the Swiss luxury giant, which last September created the new position of Chief Technology Officer within its executive committee, in order to speed up the group’s digitalisation. Jean-Jacques Van Oosten was the man picked for the role, and he took up his position on 1st January.
The creation of the CTO role is evidence of Richemont’s effort to rejuvenate its management team, while putting a stronger emphasis on new technology, at a time when the group is about to make a public tender to take full control of Yoox-Net-A-Porter, the fashion and luxury e-tailer in which it already owns a 48.5% stake.
Van Oosten, who was set to lead Richemont fully into the new digital age, has a Molecular Genetics PhD and is a graduate of the London Business School. He formerly worked for German distribution group Rewe, Tesco and Kingfisher, as well as for Dutch mass-market giant Unilever. Through his own consulting company, Van Oosten also helped several retail corporations develop their multi-channel strategies.
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