New York / NY. (gc) Godiva Chocolatier announced the appointment of Virginie Costa as its Chief Financial Officer, effective August 06. She will be responsible for leading the brand’s Global Finance team and join the business’ Global Executive Committee.
Costa joins Godiva with 20 years of Financial and Operational experience, with a deep focus in the consumer experience. Most recently, she served as Chief Financial + Operations Officer for Burberry Americas where she led finance, customer operations, technology, legal and other functions. Virginie has been instrumental in many high-profile transformation programs that improved Burberry’s overall performance.
«We are thrilled to have Virginie join our Executive team», said Annie Young-Scrivner, CEO of Godiva. «She brings strong leadership experience in modernizing and building Finance and Operations teams to drive productivity and profitability. Virginie joining the team further demonstrates our commitment to supporting Women in Leadership as 50 percent of my Global Executive Committee will now be female».
Costa has a wealth of experience in building high-performing teams – both in Finance and Operations – in addition to establishing strong governance to better mitigate business risk and manage compliance.
«I am excited and honored to be joining the Godiva family», said Costa. «I look forward working with Annie and collaborating with my peers by building a strong Global Finance team and leveraging my business experience as we further expand into other markets and product categories».
Costa lives in New York with her family and will be based in Godiva’s New York headquarters office.
Current Chief Financial Officer Selim Baraz has decided to leave the business at the end of December after six successful years in which he led the Global Finance, IT and Strategy teams.
Annie Young-Scrivner commented «I would personally like to thank Selim for his partnership since I joined Godiva. He has been a key member of my Executive Team and has been integral to the design and development of our new strategy. I wish him continued success in the future».
