London's Liberty names ex-Luxottica CEO Mehboob-Khan to top job

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 1, 2018

Liberty London has ended a long period without a senior executive at its helm and has named a former Luxottica chief as its new CEO. Adil Mehboob-Khan is joining the luxury department store retailer in the top job, its controlling shareholder BlueGem Capital Partners said on Thursday.

Liberty chairman Marco Capello, who is also managing partner at BlueGem, said: "We have been searching for an individual of Adil’s calibre for some time and are excited to welcome a person with broad experience across beauty, brand and retail to drive us to the next level.”

The retailer has been without a specific head since managing director Ed Burstell left in October 2016, although Janine Constanin-Russell joined from Whistles in September 2016 as general manager.

Meanwhile Mehboob-Khan said he believes that few companies can match Liberty’s heritage and that “this national icon has significant global potential.”

Mehboob-Khan had joined Luxottica in 2014 but left the group almost two years ago after only a year in the job as its revolving door of CEOs continued to turn.

Prior to leading the Italian eyewear giant, he was active in the beauty sector with 10 years of his career split between the CEO’s role at hair specialist Wella and being European VP for beauty at Procter & Gamble.