METRO AG streamlines Management Board

METRO is strengthening the management's focus on the implementation of the sCore wholesale strategy. In this context, the Management Board will be reduced from five to four positions and all departments will be given additional operational functions. This will also increase the efficiency of METRO's Management Board work. All changes to the Management Board will become effective on 1 June 2024.

In addition to METRO Germany, CEO Dr Steffen Greubel will also be responsible for METRO France at Management Board level. He will continue to be responsible for the online marketplace METRO Markets and DISH.

Responsibility for the other METRO / MAKRO countries will be transferred to Christiane Giesen on the Management Board. As Chief People and Culture Officer (CPCO), she was previously responsible for METRO's HR strategy. As part of the transfer of the new responsibilities, Christiane Giesen will receive a new contract until 2029. In her previous professional activities, Christiane Giesen already had significant operational responsibility in the management of countries and can build on this experience. In her new role as COO, she will retain her previous position as Labour Director. METRO and the current COO, Rafael Gasset, are parting ways by mutual agreement.

Claude Sarrailh, Chief Customer and Merchandise Officer (CCMO), is not available for an extension of his current Management Board contract because he is taking on a leading management role outside the company. The contract with Claude Sarrailh will be terminated prematurely by mutual agreement. Guillaume Deruyter will be appointed to the Management Board as his successor. Until now, he has held various management positions within METRO, most recently he was responsible for the management of all FSD specialists within the group.

With the departure of Claude Sarrailh from the Management Board, the overall responsibility for METRO Digital – the company responsible for IT in the entire group – will be transferred to CFO Eric Riegger. He brings experience from other retail companies and as a former IT consultant to this role.

Jürgen Steinemann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of METRO AG: ‘The development of METRO into a pure food wholesaler is progressing. The streamlining of the Management Board is an expression of this, as is the stronger operational focus of the individual Management Board departments. We regret the departure of Claude Sarrailh and would like to thank him for his dedicated contribution to the continuous improvement of METRO. We would also like to thank Rafael Gasset for his many years of profound commitment. We wish them both every success for the future, both professionally and personally!’

Dr Steffen Greubel, CEO METRO AG: ‘I look forward to working with the newly formed Management Board team and welcome Guillaume Deruyter as a new member of the Management Board. I have great confidence that Christiane Giesen, with her many years of experience in operational management positions, will successfully shape the responsibility for the METRO / MAKRO countries. Eric Riegger will use his expertise to efficiently set up our IT structure as part of the wholesale strategy. We are certain that this will enable us to further increase METRO's efficiency and productivity as part of the sCore strategy. This is important to us and we want to make a contribution to this, not least by streamlining the Management Board.’

METRO is a leading international food wholesaler which specialises in serving the needs of hotels, restaurants, and caterers (HoReCa) as well as independent merchants (Traders). Around the world, METRO has approx. 15 million customers who benefit from the wholesale company’s unique multichannel mix: customers can purchase their goods in one of the large stores in their area as well as by delivery (Food Service Distribution, FSD) – all digitally supported and connected. In parallel, METRO MARKETS is being developed as an international online marketplace for the needs of professional customers which has been growing and expanding continuously since 2019. Acting sustainably is one of the company principles of METRO which has been listed in various sustainability indices and rankings, including MSCI, Sustainalytics and CDP. METRO operates in more than 30 countries and employs over 89,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2022/23, METRO generated sales of €30.6 billion. More information can be found at MPULSE.de, our online magazine.