International healthcare group Alliance Pharma has appointed two new non-executive directors to strengthen its board and support its growth strategy.
The Chippenham-headquartered business, which owns a portfolio of consumer healthcare products ranging from stomach ulcer treatments to anti-dandruff shampoo, said Eva-Lotta Sjöstedt and Richard McKenzie would bring significant experience to group.
Alliance holds marketing rights to around 80 consumer healthcare brands, with revenues generated from a mix of direct, distributor and e-commerce sales in 100-plus countries.
It employs around 285 people across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region.
Eva-Lotta Sjöstedt has in-depth knowledge of global consumer retail, supply chain and digital transformation and has held leadership roles in consumer-facing industries across Europe, Japan, China and the US.
From 2016 to 2018, she was CEO of Georg Jensen, the luxury jewellery and Scandinavian design brand, where she led a global team of 1,400 to implement an omni-channel turnaround in retail networks. Prior to that she was CEO at Karstadt, a chain of premium department stores in Germany with a strong e-commerce presence.
She started her career at IKEA, establishing the business in Japan, where she worked for four years before becoming CEO of IKEA Netherlands and then deputy global retail manager. In this role she was responsible for IKEA's global multi-channel strategy and the implementation of its on and offline experiences throughout the entire global value chain.
She is currently a non-executive director of FTSE-250 listed Tritax Eurobox, which operates, manages and invests in real estate assets across continental Europe, a board member of ELISA Oyj, a digital services and telecommunications company listed on Nasdaq Helsinki, and a member of the supervisory board of Metro AG, a German wholesale food specialist operating in 35 countries.
Richard McKenzie has international e-commerce, distribution, supply chain and logistics experience in the consumer, retail and technology sectors, along with particular expertise in the Asia-Pacific region having lived and worked in mainland China for 10 years.
From 2019 to 2023, he was chief commercial officer and, latterly, president (Europe and Asia) for Ocado Solutions, driving the growth of the leading grocery e-commerce platform globally, leading major new deals with distributors in Korea, Japan, Spain and Poland, and redesigning the B2B organisation of the business.
Before that he was a strategy consultant for OC&C in London and China, building the company’s presence in Asia-Pacific, before becoming a senior partner for the consumer goods and retail practice of Oliver Wyman in Asia Pacific. He is currently a senior advisor to McKinsey and Company.
Alliance Pharma chair Jo LeCouilliard said: “I am delighted to welcome Eva-Lotta and Richard to the board and look forward to their contribution to support the delivery of our growth strategy.
“Eva-Lotta will bring significant additional global consumer expertise from her various senior executive leadership roles and Richard will bring significant additional strategic and operational expertise, particularly in our important China market.”
