Pandora A/S, which sells more pieces of jewellery than any other company in the world, picked its first woman as top leader, an adjustment to its male-dominated C-suite, which for long has been out-of-whack with the customer base.
Berta de Pablos-Barbier, the Copenhagen-based company’s current chief marketing officer, will take over as chief executive officer in March, according to a statement on Tuesday. She’s replacing Alexander Lacik, 60, who’s retiring.
Pandora, whose products are used almost exclusively by women, has worked on improving its gender balance for years, but has failed to make large strides at the top of its organisation.
The company has sold sustainability-linked bonds that among other things target a bigger proportion of women in leadership roles and has set up a gender parity target for top leaders to be reached in 2030.
Still, de Pablos-Barbier, a Spanish national, is currently the only woman in Pandora’s eight-person executive leadership team. Gender equality is better at Pandora’s board, where half of the eight people are women.
“It’s key for Pandora, as it is for the world, to have balance and we want a balanced team,” the incoming CEO said in a phone interview. “I think there are enough studies that suggest the importance of having diversity in an executive team, but we are also a company that cater for women.”
Pandora, mainly known for its silver charms and bracelets, has so far only focused on 20% of the market in terms of geographies and products, leaving a lot of growth opportunities, de Pablos-Barbier said.
“You should expect to see us expanding into more aesthetics, using more metals and in more categories: rings, necklaces, etc.,” the incoming CEO said.
Lacik has been able to insert some calm around Pandora during his six-and-a-half year tenure, ending a series of profit warnings under his predecessor Anders Colding Friis. Pandora’s shares have gained an annualized 23% under Lacik, compared with a peer average of about 11%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Before joining Pandora in 2024, de Pablos-Barbier, 56, was the CEO of Moet & Chandon. She has also had executive positions at brands such as Mars and Lacoste.
While Pandora’s “priority number one is to have the best possible candidate in any position at any time,” the company also has a 50%-50% gender target and the CEO swap “is a big step in that direction,” Chair Peter Ruzicka said by phone.
SOURCE:BLOOMBERG
