New Appointments at X5 Retail Group N.V.
19 Sep 2008
Amsterdam, 19 September 2008 - X5 Retail Group N.V., Russia's largest retailer in terms of sales
(LSE ticker: “FIVE”), announces new senior management appointments:
− Mikhail Susov has been appointed as the Company’s Marketing Director. Mr. Susov will be
responsible for X5’s marketing strategy, including positioning of the formats and brand
management.
− Tatiana Ponomareva has been appointed as Hypermarket Format Director. Prior to this
appointment, Mrs. Ponomareva held the position of Strategy and Investments Director at X5
Retail Group.
− Vagan Abgaryan is taking over as Investments Director.
− Antonio Melo has completed his term as Chief Operational Officer of X5 due to the
expiration of his contract.
X5 Retail Group CEO Lev Khasis commented:
“We highly value Antonio Melo’s contribution to the development of the Company’s operational
strategy, strengthening its competitive positions and supporting the achievement of outstanding
results. Antonio helped us to design and implement the business-processes we use today in X5’s
operations. He not only shared with us his expertise and deep knowledge of global retail, but also
invested a lot of effort into creating a new generation of Russian retailers who know how to apply
international retail practices successfully in the Russian market.”
He also added: “we have decided to streamline our management structure in operations with each
format’s head reporting directly to the CEO. We have also significantly strengthened our marketing
efforts by having appointed Mikhail Susov – one of the best marketing professionals in Russia – as
X5’s Marketing Director. I believe these steps will enable us to ensure the consistency and continuity
of our operational strategy and achieve the highly ambitious goals set by the Company.”
Antonio Melo commented:
“The years spent in Russia with X5 have been the most interesting time in my career. Russia is a
unique country with outstanding growth prospects for its retail sector, while the Russian consumer is
extremely open and responsive to modern retail offers and innovations. In my view, X5’s
management team is the strongest in the market and the Company has every reason to continue
capitalizing on yet untapped opportunities faster and more effectively than its competitors.”
Mikhail Susov graduated from the Moscow University of Communications and IT with a degree in
radio communications, radio broadcast and television. In 2005, he received his MBA from the
National Economics Academy. Mr. Susov had held senior executive positions in a number of
telecom companies, including Personal Communications (Sonet) and Comstar. From 2002 to 2005
Mikhail served as the First Vice President at MTS (Mobile TeleSystems). From 2005 to 2008 he held
the post of the CEO of Effortel Group. Mr. Susov is the Chairman of the Board at Effortel Russia
and a co-founder of Effortel Europe. Mikhail was assigned the title of “Global Leader for Tomorrow-
2003” at the Davos World Economic Forum.
Tatiana Ponomareva graduated from the Moscow State Technical University n.a. N.E. Bauman with
a degree in laser medicine; Higher School of Economics with a Master of Economics (Strategic
Marketing). Tatiana started her career in 1997 as an assistant auditor in KPMG Ltd. From 1998 to
1999 she worked as business information analyst in Ericson International. Starting from 1999 she
was an investment analyst in Altium Capital CIS Ltd. Tatiana joined Perekrestok in 2001, in 2005
she was appointed Strategy and Investments Director of Perekrestok. Since the merger of
Perekrestok and Pyaterochka in 2006 Tatiana has held the position of Strategy and Investments
Director of X5 Retail Group.
Vagan Abgaryan graduated from the S. Ordzhonikidze State Academy of Management with a
degree in International Economic Relations. Mr. Abgaryan worked at Alfa-Bank from 1995 to 2007,
where he most recently served as the Head of Asset Management and Senior Vice-President. He was
also the Chairman of the Investment Committee at Alfa Bank. From 1993 to 1995 he worked at Ernst
& Young.
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