Pandora appoints new chief HR officer

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jul 29, 2019

Pandora has hired an expert in “organisational transformation” to help bring its global workplace and teams in line with its new culture ahead of its relaunch.

Erik Schmidt will join the Danish jeweller as chief HR officer on 12 August. And after a short handover, current senior vice president of human resources Mads Kamp will leave the company. 

Schmidt has a wealth of experience working in HR, having spent more than 20 years at FTSE100 and Fortune 500 companies. He joins from Britax, a world leader in child safety products, and other career highlights include senior HR roles at HSBC, Avis, Lego and Diageo.

Commenting on his appointment, Pandora CEO Alexander Lacik explained: “Pandora has embarked on a major transformation journey to reignite our brand and assert our position as the leading jewellery company. At the core of this transformation stands the need to support and develop our global workplace and our employees in the best possible way. This requires an HR executive with extensive global transformation experience as well as operational experience from some of our key markets – and that is what Erik Schmidt brings to Pandora.”

At the end of last year, Pandora embarked on a transformational process under its ‘Programme Now’ plan, designed to help the business bounce back from disappointing revenues. Preparation for the relaunch include pilots with celebrity and influencer collaborations, as well as “significant”  marketing investments in key countries.

The programme is expected to help pandora achieve total annual cost reductions of DKK 1.2 billion ($178m) by the end of 2020, which will be used to fund investments in branding and marketing, a new store design and a new online shopping experience.