DFS announces big changes

John Rimmer

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DFS Group promotes Mark Daley and moves its Asia base to headquarters in Hong Kong amid significant changes at the leading travel retailer

DFS Group has announced big changes to personnel and company structure. The retailer, whose parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton reported encouraging growth in revenue last week, has promoted Asia group president Mark Daley to the new role of president worldwide store operations and business development, reporting to chairman and CEO Ed Brennan. Daley will be responsible for store operations and business development across all DFS' businesses in Asia/Pacific and the US.

DFS' Asia base, meanwhile, will move from Singapore to Hong Kong, home to the company's world headquarters. Daley's replacement as head of the Asian business will be Tim DeLessio, currently managing director of the retailer's Hong Kong division.

DFS vice-president for mainland China business development Jim Beighley will move to Hong Kong and will report to Daley. Director selling culture Elaine Chow will report to DeLessio and US group president Julian Levy. Merchandising president Michael Schriver and his team in San Francisco will continue to report to Brennan.

In a statement Brennan said: "Building our bench for the future is an important initiative throughout DFS. Mark's newly-created position and Tim's promotion are examples of this initiative at the very highest levels of DFS. By creating Mark's new position, I will be able to devote more time and attention to leading key corporate strategies and initiatives to assure that DFS maximises its many opportunities for further growth and profitability.

"Mark's promotion reflects his success as Asia group president in developing new markets, most recently Okinawa, and in establishing his credentials as an extremely effective leader within the DFS organisation. He has spent nearly all of his business career at DFS, starting as a management trainee in 1986 and moving up the ranks in merchandising as his career progressed. His career with DFS has taken him to Alaska, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Guam, Hawaii, Sydney, and Singapore. Before heading Asia Group, Mark managed our operations in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia). Tim was instrumental in the creation and success of the DFS Gallerias in Honolulu and Okinawa as well as the management and redevelopment of the Sun Plaza and Chinachem stores in Hong Kong. He has created and nurtured strong and productive store teams and gained deep insights in marketing to both Chinese and Japanese customers – our two key customer bases."