NEINVER, a leading investor, developer and operator in the European outlet centre industry, the market leader in Spain and Poland, has announced the appointment of Sebastian Sommer, currently the Group’s Business Development Director and Country Head for Germany, as Marketing & Retail Director Europe. This marks the first time these two areas of the company are joined under the same leadership.
In this new joint role, Sommer will lead NEINVER’s marketing and retail operations across a portfolio of 24 retail outlet assets in seven countries, reporting to the Group’s Managing Director, Carlos González.
González said, “We are combining these two main areas as the company embarks on a period of expansion that will double the current GLA of its pipeline in the coming years. Sebastian has been an important member of our team since he joined the company eight years ago. He will be key to our strategy of maximising the performance of our brand partners and providing our customers the shopping experience they demand.”
“It’s an exciting opportunity to take over NEINVER’s marketing and retail areas in this time of strong activity for the company: we recently opened a new outlet centre in Prague, we have new projects in the Netherlands, France and Germany, and we are working on a renovation plan that includes several of our centres in Europe. Moreover, in bringing these two parts of the company together, we will focus on creating synergies and provide integrated strategies to better serve the company’s brand partners, working in close cooperation with them,” says Sommer.
Sebastian Sommer, who has over 20 years’ experience in retail and marketing, joined NEINVER in 2010 as Country Head for Germany, a position he still holds, and has served as NEINVER’s Business Development Director for the last four years, responsible for the strategic direction and execution of NEINVER’s new business developments and acquisitions across Europe. Vanessa Gelado, NEINVER’s Investments Director, will assume responsibility for the expansion strategy of the company.
Before joining NEINVER, Sommer oversaw retail growth for Warnaco Europe Calvin Klein Underwear and Jeans, where he was responsible for the development, implementation and execution of retail strategies on the European market. Before that assignment, he was responsible for retail growth in various positions at Nike, Hugo Boss and Karstadt.
Sommer graduated in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences of Munich, where he studied Marketing and Business Management.