Stephan Borchert.
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SCHIPHOL, The Netherlands—The supervisory board of GrandVision N.V. (EURONEXT: GVNV), the major global optical retail operating group based here, announced it intends to appoint Stephan Borchert as the CEO of GrandVision by, at the latest, the end of April 2018. Borchert will be proposed as an additional member of the company’s management board to shareholders at an extraordinary shareholders meeting which will be called for Dec. 14 this year.

Borchert will succeed Theo Kiesselbach, who announced in May 2017, as VMail reported, that he will retire during 2018, after 16 years with the company.

Borchert is currently EMEA president of cosmetics retailer Sephora, and he will join GrandVision N.V. in January 2018, the announcement said.

Borchert, 47, a German national, has in-depth retail experience with a variety of service oriented retailers. He began his professional career at fashion retailer Peek & Cloppenburg and then became a partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. He went on to become president of Red Earth in Hong Kong and managing director of the international business of multinational cosmetics company Douglas, leading 750 retail locations in 18 countries. He then became member of the Executive Board at Celesio, which included responsibility for over 2,200 company owned pharmacies in numerous countries. As EMEA president of Sephora he managed more than 1,000 locations in 23 countries.

The company’s statement added, “The Supervisory Board of GrandVision N.V. is pleased to have attracted such a broadly experienced international retail professional and is confident that its growth strategy will continue successfully with the combined experience of Stephan Borchert and the GrandVision leadership team.”

GrandVision is a global leader in optical retailing, operating over 6,600 stores in more than 40 countries across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia. The group’s retail banners include Pearle Europe, Vision Express, Grand Optical, Instrumentarium and For Eyes.