Walter Kadnar is new CEO IKEA Netherlands

IKEA has appointed Walter Kadnar as its new CEO from 1 September: The Austrian national is coming over from the furniture retailer’s German branch to succeed Alessandra Zini, who died in January.

Rich experience

Kadnar began his IKEA career at in 1988 as a management trainee. He then held a variety of roles in various Austrian stores before moving abroad in 2004. He worked in France, Germany, Poland, Russia and France again, before starting as CEO and CSO of the German branch in 2022.

The new CEO will focus on further growing the Swedish department store in the Netherlands, which currently has 6,000 employees, and making its shops and operations more sustainable. In addition, he wants to improve shopping convenience by further developing the omnichannel strategy.