Westfield extends management board and names chief operating officer

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has confirmed the appointment of Scott Parsons as its new chief operating officer for the UK region, alongside changes to extend its management board to “bolster its agility in responding to the current challenges and to prepare for the future”.

The new management board will lead a more decentralised Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield with empowered regions and a simplified corporate centre, said the company. Operating four new enlarged European regions alongside the US, with each area “empowered to ground their operations on local market dynamics and customers as well as to deliver on value creation”.

They will each be headed by a regional chief operating officer, reporting to Jean-Marie Tritant, chief executive.

In the UK, Scott Parsons has been appointed as chief operating officer. Parsons joined the group in November 2018 as regional managing director, and in his new role he will also be responsible for the newly formed corporate Centres of Excellence for the following divisions: Concept Studio Europe; Construction Europe and Events Europe.

Commenting on the appointment, Parson, said in a statement: “As we start the year with the announcement of the new group organisation structure, I am delighted to lead one of the key regions which include Europe’s two largest shopping centres plus some of our biggest residential developments.

“The focus on customer is paramount in our approach and something that is very much at the heart of everything we do here in the UK. I very much look forward to continuing this journey, alongside my colleagues across Europe and the US, within the new organisation structure.”

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield bolsters management board to “prepare for the future”

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has extended its management board to incorporate two new members, Olivier Bossard and Astrid Panosyan, who will join Jean-Marie Tritant, chief executive officer and chairman of the management board, and Fabrice Mouchel, chief financial officer.

As chief investment officer, Bossard will be in charge of leading the group’s deleveraging effort through disposals, as well as overseeing the value creation strategy based on a targeted allocation of resources. While Panosyan as chief resources officer will lead the organisational transformation of the group to “swiftly increase its effectiveness and efficiency,” as well as focusing resources on essential activities and continuing to lead Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s ambitious ‘Better Places 2030’ CSR strategy.

As chief financial officer, Mouchel will be in charge of adjusting the finance function to the new organisation to reinforce the group’s controlling capacities and effectively monitor Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s performance.

In addition, Michel Dessolain has been appointed chief customer officer, supervising strategic marketing, innovation, data, digital marketing and new revenues. Until a permanent chief customer officer joins the group over the course of the year, he will structure this new function and bring in new skill sets to make Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield a more customer, digital, and data-driven company and harness future growth.

The new management board will also be supported by an executive committee composed of the board, the five regional chief operating officer’s and executive managing directors, under the chairmanship of the chief executive.

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has a portfolio valued at 58.3 billion euros as of September 30, 2020, of which 86 percent in retail. Currently, the group owns and operates 87 shopping centres, including in the UK, Europe and the US. Its centres welcome 1.2 billion visits per year.

Image: courtesy of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield of Scott Parsons