Zalando reappoints Schröder as COO, product chief Freeman to exit

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 13, 2022

Zalando has made a key change to its top team, although there’s also plenty of continuity too with the supervisory board reappointing David Schröder as COO “with the mandate to continue building and scaling [our] unique capabilities and offerings as well as enabling the company’s growth”.

But Chief Business and Product Officer Jim Freeman, “who had a clearly defined transformation mandate”, will leave “as planned” when his term expires on March 31, “after having very successfully completed his work”. 

The company said he enabled it to “scale faster and better while enhancing its overall customer centric approach, resulting in an operating model and organisation that empowers individual markets to better serve local customers”.

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Freeman joined Zalando in 2018, first as SVP Technology and then the management board as Chief Business and Product Officer. He’ll be “working closely” with the senior team on his handover and “will remain close to the company thereafter”.

Cristina Stenbeck, Chairperson of the supervisory board, said that the company “has successfully reinforced its ambition to be the Starting Point for Fashion and has introduced and expanded other business segments in addition to the Fashion Store. The updated operating model and corresponding organisation are a critical step for Zalando to further deliver on its strategic ambition and create long-term value for customers, partners, and shareholders in an even more agile and customer-centric way. 

“We are absolutely thrilled to continue working with David Schröder. David had a tremendously profound impact on our business and his work is crucial to unlock new growth opportunities. The supervisory board also wishes to express its gratitude to Jim Freeman for his leadership and execution of the overall strategy.”