OREANDA-NEWS. On 17 August 2009 was announced, that a meeting of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lenta and key officers was held. Mr. Oleg Zherebtsov officially declared that the Dutch specialist Mr. Jan Dunning would be appointed a new General Director and CEO. The procedure for his appointment to the new position was initiated after Metro Cash&Carry Ukraine had officially notified that he had resigned from his position of a General Director.

In April 2009, the Meeting of the Shareholders resolved that a new Director General having vast experience in retailers is to be found to optimize and improve business processes and achieve maximum sales and profit performances. Several members of the Board of Directors were authorized by the shareholders to conduct negotiations with potential candidates. On June 30, by majority vote, the Meeting of the Shareholders decided in favour of a management officer having 20-year experience of work in international retail and fair knowledge of Russian retail trade, whereupon the next stage of negotiations and preparation to contract signing began.

Mr. Jan Dunning, who has been employed by the Russian Branch of Metro for six years, will take up his duties as soon as he has been officially registered for this office under the Russian laws reflecting the specific of cooperation with foreign citizens. He has decade-long work experience in the ALDI discount supermarket chain, Germany. Mr. Dunning had been in charge of the wholesale company Lukas Klamer Netherland before he helmed Metro. As he was holding the position of a Sales Director, Metro Cash&Carry Russia, the number of local stores in the chain increased from 4 to 48.

In his appeal to the company officers, Mr. Oleg Zherebtsov emphasized that the decision on the change of the General Director was caused by the need to engage a professional having international background and that he cannot remember more difficult situation in the country economics over 20 years of his business management. Though Lenta has a considerably stable position as compared to many other retail market players, it is necessary to move forward and make the best efforts to attain the stability level that was showed by the company before the crisis. ‘I believe that Lenta will keep stable, and that any specialist, any professional in retail trade will use the experience, capital, and best practices which Lenta has and which are surely our key advantage.’