British clothing company SuperGroup, owner of the Superdry label, saw its share price fall more than 2.7% in early trading this morning, following the announcement that its Chief Operating Officer Susanne Given has exited the business.
The group announced that Given, who joined SuperGroup in April 2012, has stepped down from the board as a director with immediate effect and is leaving “in order to explore other opportunities.”
Given‘s responsibilities, which were across Europe, the States and the Far East, will be “absorbed by the executive team”, which means the heads of UK retail, IT and logistics will now report directly to Chief Executive Euan Sutherland. Sutherland, formerly boss of the Co-operative Group, joined in October last year.
Given, who has described her leadership style “flexible, demanding, clear around objectives and supportive” in the past, as came on board at SuperGroup from John Lewis, where she served as Buying Director, prior to that she was managing director at TK Maxx in UK and Ireland.
Peter Bamford, Chairman at SuperGroup thanked Given for her “significant contribution to the growth and development”, adding that “Susanne played a crucial role in leading key investment programmes which have upgraded the infrastructure and processes of our business and were recently tested to the full over the peak Christmas trading period. We wish her every success in her future career.”
