Pepco Group announces the appointment of Sander van der Laan as a Board Observer, where he will work closely with the Board of Directors, subject to formal confirmation as a Pepco Group Director at the next General Meeting of shareholders. This appointment is effective as of today.

Sander joins as a Director nominee of IBEX Group, the Company’s majority shareholder. He brings exceptional expertise in discount-retail operations, strategy and value creation through his current and prior senior-leadership roles at three large retail businesses operating across European markets.

Currently, Sander serves as Chief Executive Officer of Douglas AG, the #1 omni-channel premium beauty destination operating over 1,900 stores across 22 European countries. Previously, Sander served for six years as Chief Executive Officer of Action, a fast-growing pan-European non-food discount retailer. Prior to his leadership role at Action, Sander served as Chief Operating Officer of Ahold Europe and Chief Executive Officer of Albert Heijn.

Commenting on today’s announcement, Frederick Arnold, Chair of Pepco Group, said: “On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to welcome Sander to Pepco. He adds outstanding retail experience to our team, especially in translating strategic and operational excellence into smart growth and sustained long-term value creation for shareholders. We believe his perspective and judgement will add great value in support of our mission at New Pepco.”

Sander van der Laan said: “I am excited to join Pepco for the next phase of its journey. I have admired the Pepco format and business model for many years and, under Stephan Borchert’s leadership, it is re-invigorating its compelling value proposition for customers. I look forward to supporting the Board and Stephan in building on the strong business-improvement strategies underway at Pepco.”