Régis Schultz to take over as the new CEO of JD Sports Fashion

JD Sports Fashion Plc has appointed Régis Schultz as the company's new chief executive officer.

The company said in a release that Schultz is expected to join JD in September at which time Kath Smith will undertake a full handover of her duties to Schultz during a short transitional period. Smith will then resume her former role as senior independent director on the board.

Commenting on the new appointment, Andrew Higginson, non-executive chair of JD, said: "Régis brings exactly the characteristics we were looking for. He is a retailer through and through with experience across all types of retail formats. He has also delivered transformational change through digitisation in a number of his roles. Finally, he has significant international experience which will be very important as he works with myself and our senior team to execute on our growth strategy."

Régis Schultz to join JD as its new CEO

Schultz, the company added, brings with him a wealth of retail experience as CEO, including of a UK-listed retail business, and across retail categories including home, fashion, electrical sporting goods and food. In particular, he has a strong track record of effecting transformational change through digitisation, driving multi-channel growth strategies and working across international markets.

He joins the company from Al-Futtaim Group, the Dubai-based conglomerate which is a partner to many of the world's most high-profile companies across automotive, retail, financial services, real estate and health sectors, and where he has been president of retail since 2019. The retail division has helped to launch and build brands, including Zara, IKEA, Hugo Boss, M&S and Lacoste and operates in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa.

"JD has consistently proven itself to be one of the most successful operators of multi-brand retail formats in the world. We are committed to going deeper in the international development of our brands applying our experience and executional expertise and further enhancing our market leading multi-channel customer experience," added Schultz.

In addition, Schultz has more than a decade's experience as chief executive of major retail businesses. Prior to joining Al-Futtaim, he was CEO of Monoprix, France's leading city-centre food and fashion retailer that is part of Groupe Casino. During his time there he launched and executed a new digital strategy, signed a partnership with Amazon, concluded the first international partnership with Ocado and concluded the acquisition of an online shoes' pure player.