The Belgian Colruyt Group will see its Chief Operating Officer Marc Hofman retire on 1 April. This will cause some shifts in the executive committee of the retail company.
“Maximising continuity”
COO Hofman has held the position since 2018, succeeding Frans Colruyt. In 2013, he began at Colruyt Group as CFO, a position that Stefaan Vandamme has taken up since 2019. Two directors from the executive committee will share the operations manager’s responsibilities: marketing director Jo Willemyns (54) will become COO Food Retail, taking over final responsibility for the group’s food retail formulas. He joined Colruyt Group in 1994 and was sales manager and head of department at the distribution centres and production. Stefan Goethaert (54) will henceforth head the HR department and IT and technical services. He will also remain Colruyt Group Fine Food’s COO and retains responsibility for retail services (quality, price, private labels). He has been working for Colruyt Group since the end of 2012.
Colruyt has only very recently announced the changes internally and will not go into further detail about the transitions for the time being. However, the retailer emphasises that it strives for maximum continuity, both in terms of organisation and strategy: “As Colruyt Group, we continue to follow the well-known long-term strategy, we continue to invest, and we remain committed to all our customers.” The symbol of that continuity is Jef Colruyt: he remains CEO of Colruyt Group and, as such, directs the non-food business, as well as the real estate, energy and health activities of the group.
