SCHIPHOL, the Netherlands—GrandVision N.V. (EURONEXT: GVNV) one of the largest global eyewear retail groups, announced on May 2 that its current CEO, Theo Kiesselbach, plans to retire for personal reasons in 2018 after more than 16 years with the company.

The statement said, “While the Supervisory Board regrets his decision, it remains fully supportive of Mr. Kiesselbach and is pleased that he will continue in his current role until then. GrandVision’s Supervisory Board will now launch a search for the CEO succession. It is expected that the actual transition will take place in 2018, and only after a qualified successor has been identified and is successfully on-boarded.”

In the meantime, the company said, “Mr. Kiesselbach as well as the Supervisory Board remain fully committed to the further execution of GrandVision’s current growth strategy. Also the governance and management structures will remain unchanged.”

Kiesselbach joined the company in 2002 as CEO of Apollo-Optik and Pearle Central Europe. Following the acquisition of GrandVision SA by HAL, Kiesselbach was appointed Group CEO of GrandVision SA in 2006. When GrandVision N.V. was incorporated in 2011, he became the CEO of the newly merged company.

Since then, he has managed GrandVision’s continued international expansion. Kiesselbach began his career at McKinsey & Co in 1988. From 1998, he held executive roles in a number of German retail companies before joining GrandVision. Since 2016, he has served on the Supervisory Board of CoolBlue.