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“We believe that these key staff movements will reinforce our local business organisation as well as add much value to our Asia Pacific organisation structure… we are committed to growing and developing our travel retail business in the region, and in duty free categories especially in Asia.“ |
Emmanuel de Place COO for Asia Pacific Lagardère Services |
ASIA/PACIFIC. Lagardère Services Asia Pacific (LS ASPAC) has announced changes to its senior management as the retailer aims to meet its ambitious objectives for expansion in the region. In a statement, the company said the changes were designed to “further strengthen our Asia Pacific team and [make] ready our organisation for further expansion in Asia as well as [for the development of] our duty free business in the region”.
The changes include the relocation of Operations and Marketing Director Asia Paul Ryan to his native Australia, where he becomes Operations Director Pacific, reporting to Lagardère Services Pacific CEO Scott Raisin. Ryan will be replaced in Singapore by Grant Fleming, who rejoins Lagardère Services Asia Pacific after a spell as Deputy Vice President, Strategy, Innovation and Sustainable Development with its parent company Lagardère Services in Paris.
Fleming will manage Strategic Marketing and Communications for LS ASPAC, supporting the retailer’s Asian operations teams in Asia, ensuring the sharing of best practice across LS ASPAC’s activities and ensuring consistency of its store concepts. He will also join the organisation’s Directors’ Committee, alongside Development Manager Asia Amy Chan and Asia CFO Diana Fox.
The company has also announced the appointment of Tan Jong Lee as General Manager Singapore, with responsibility for all Lagardère Services Asia Pacific’s businesses within Singapore Changi Airport, including its joint-venture bookstore business, Times Newslink. She will report to Emmanuel de Place, Lagardère Services COO for Asia Pacific, and will also join the company’s Directors’ Committee.
All changes will be effective from the end of January.
In a statement de Place paid tribute to Ryan’s role in LS ASPAC’s growth. “Paul has contributed to the development of our Asia businesses these past several years, having contributed as an active member to develop our China business, before relocating to Hong Kong and then to Singapore in the role of Operations Director, Asia.
“We would like to warmly thank Paul for the energy he has dedicated to our companies in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Singapore. He has played a leading role in the foundation of our organisation in Asia and participated in our development and successes here.”
Commenting on Tan’s promotion, de Place said: “I am convinced her experience in travel retail, excellent customer service attitude as well as her knowledge of our partners, airport landlords and supply partners, will be a key asset for our development in Changi Airport within the speciality and duty free categories in future.”
De Place added: “We believe that these key staff movements will reinforce our local business organisation as well as add much value to our Asia Pacific organisation structure. We are committed to growing and developing our travel retail business in the region, and in duty free categories especially in Asia. We believe that with the organisation of these experienced key executives within our team, Lagardère Services Asia Pacific will be well structured and ready to deliver improved results to our landlords and partners in the region.”
ABOUT LAGARDERE SERVICES ASIA PACIFIC
Lagardère Services Asia Pacific is a susbsidiary of the Lagardère Services Group. The group operates nearly 4,000 travel retail stores across the world, including a presence at over 100 airports, and is among the channel’s leading news and gifts retailers.
In Asia Pacific, Lagardère Services is the region’s leading news and books travel retailer and operator of the Relay and Newslink concepts. Its portfolio of speciality retail concepts includes Discover (gifts and souvenirs), Virgin (multimedia), Kaboom (toys), Lonely Planet (travel and books) and many more. In the region, Lagardère Services operates more than 150 travel retail outlets in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
The Lagardère Services network covers 20 countries across four continents. The group includes HDS Retail North America, which operates over 350 news, gift and speciality stores, plus several local subsidiaries across Europe.
