Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Ahold today announced that James McCann has been appointed to a newly created role on its Corporate Executive Board as Chief Commercial & Development Officer, effective September 1, 2011.
This new board position will help drive the company’s growth strategy. McCann will focus on developing new and innovative ways to serve customer needs, build customer loyalty and broaden Ahold’s offering. He will also be responsible for leading Ahold’s e-commerce initiatives and will strengthen the company’s online business globally. In addition, he will play a key role in expanding the company’s operations in new markets.
"We are delighted to have a retailer like James joining our Corporate Executive Board," said Dick Boer, Ahold CEO. "James has an impressive background of working in leading roles for a number of international retailers in various countries. His experience in developing businesses in different markets, and his knowledge in e-commerce, building customer relationships and strengthening loyalty, will help us accelerate our initiatives in these key growth areas for our business. James will work closely with our Chief Operating Officers for Ahold Europe and Ahold USA," Boer said.
McCann is a British National, born in 1969. He started his career at Shell in the United Kingdom in 1992 and joined Mars in 1994 where he worked in various roles in the UK and Russia. In 1999, McCann joined Sainsbury plc as Commercial Director, and moved to Tesco where he worked from 2002 until 2009. He worked for Tesco as COO for Poland, as well as national head of Tesco in Malaysia and Hungary. From February 2010 to May 2011, McCann was Executive Director for Carrefour France and a member of Carrefour’s Group Executive Board.
The Ahold Supervisory Board will nominate McCann for appointment to Ahold’s Corporate Executive Board at its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on April 17, 2012. Until that time, McCann will be an acting member of the Corporate Executive Board.
The terms and conditions of McCann's contract comply with Ahold's remuneration policy.
Cautionary notice
This press release includes forward-looking statements, which do not refer to historical facts but refer to expectations based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those included in such statements. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements as to Ahold's growth strategy. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond Ahold’s ability to control or estimate precisely, such as the effect of general economic or political conditions, fluctuations in exchange rates or interest rates, increases or changes in competition, Ahold’s ability to implement and complete successfully its plans and strategies, the benefits from and resources generated by Ahold’s plans and strategies being less than or different from those anticipated, changes in Ahold’s liquidity needs, the actions of competitors and third parties and other factors discussed in Ahold’s public filings and other disclosures. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Ahold does not assume any obligation to update any public information or forward-looking statements in this press release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable laws. Outside the Netherlands, Koninklijke Ahold N.V., being its registered name, presents itself under the name of “Royal Ahold” or simply “Ahold”.
