As part of its global expansion plans, luxury online fashion retailer Yoox Net-a-Porter has hired Deborah Lee as chief people officer.

Ms Lee will be joining the company in the new year and will be responsible for the company’s global HR team with direct reports in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Milan, Shanghai and Bologna, however Ms Lee will be based in the London office and will report to chief executive Federico Marchetti.

Commenting, Marchetti said: “Building an outstanding leadership team has been at the top of my agenda since our group was born close to a year ago and a lot of our energy went into identifying the perfect candidate for this crucial role.

“Deborah has a proven track-record at the highest level in a successful tech-driven organisation. This experience, coupled with her international background, will be invaluable: people are at the heart of this business and it is critical that we give them every opportunity to develop and grow for future success.”
Bringing 20 years’ experience with her, Ms Lee has led international HR functions for several of BT Group’s biggest organisations such as heading up the group learning function and more recently has served as chief HR officer at BT Global Services, whilst also being selected as a Financial Times expert on “Human transformation in the digital age”.

Ms Lee said: “I’m thrilled to be a part of the company that introduced consumers to online shopping for luxury 16 years ago.

“I look forward to joining Yoox Net-A-Porter’s strong leadership team and working to develop and grow talent across the group.”