Pearson Poon – Vice Chairman

Pearson Poon is the Vice Chairman of Harvey Nichols, one of the world's leading luxury retailers. Prior to becoming Vice Chairman in 2023, Pearson was appointed as an Executive Director of the Company when he joined in 2017. Pearson is also the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Dickson Concepts (International) Limited, a leading luxury retailer in Asia listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Pearson led the development of Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong and is responsible for overseeing Dickson Concepts’ retail business which comprises of 62 stores in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. In 2022, Pearson was in the top 10 Asia’s most influential list at Inside Retail Asia. Pearson is also the Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of S.T. Dupont S.A. and works closely with the President and the Executive team to develop the S.T. Dupont businesses internationally. Previously, Pearson worked at the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, focusing on the China internet sector as part of the Consumer and Retail, Technology, Media, and Telecommunications team. Pearson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Julia Goddard – CEO

Julia Goddard is the CEO of Harvey Nichols, having joined the business in June 2024 following 14 years at Alexander McQueen. At McQueen, Julia led the EMEA Region as President from 2019 to 2024, driving dynamic growth and expansion for the region in wholesale, retail and econcession channels. This also included the opening of new flagship stores in key cities including London, Paris, Milan, Rome, Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar, with an emphasis on Retail Excellence and VIC clientelling. Prior to this, she was Worldwide Wholesale, Franchise and Econcession Director for the brand.

Julie Holdaway – Group HR & People Development Director

Julie Holdaway joined Harvey Nichols in January 2017 from SSP where she held the position of Group HR Director. SSP is a top 250 FTSE company and the leading provider of food and beverage services in multi-site travel locations worldwide. Julie’s career spanned 22 years at SSP, having joined in 1994 as Regional HR Manager when SSP was part of the Compass Group and held several Global and UK directorships. During her time at the Group she was instrumental in leading an award-winning people agenda across the company. Julie holds an MSc in Business Leadership along with a CIPD Diploma in Personnel Management, she is also an FCIPD member.

Laura Larbalestier – Group Fashion Buying Director

Laura Larbalestier joined Harvey Nichols in August 2018 as Group Fashion Director for Mens, Womens and Accessories. Laura began her career at Selfridges where she was responsible for developing the Women’s Designer RTW business. She then transitioned to Browns Fashion in 2011 before moving to Boutique 1 in June 2017 as Buying Director.

Victoria Bell - Marketing Director

Victoria Bell has over twenty years of marketing experience in the retail and media sectors, starting at the BBC before moving to publications such as Grazia. More recently, she was International Marketing Director for Value Retail, where she was responsible for driving high net worth tourists to Bicester Village and its sister villages across Europe and China. Victoria then joined News UK as Chief Marketing Officer for The Times and The Sunday Times, with responsibility for strategy, brand, campaigns, digital marketing, loyalty and customer management. Then as Marketing General Manager, Victoria was responsible for driving digital transformation across all News UK brands.

Graham Edgerton - Finance Director

Graham Edgerton’s finance career spans almost 40 years and started when he graduated with a First in Applied Mathematics before joining the audit practice of KPMG in London for four years. There he specialised in oil and gas as well as business services clients. He became a chartered accountant, and soon after decided to pursue a career in investment banking, joining Barings. Since then, Graham worked for businesses including Jaeger, Debenhams and Molton Brown where he has worked as a Chief Financial Controller and Finance Director and provided financial insight and analysis to drive decision making, improving processes, managing risk and developing plans to support company expansion.

Clare Horner – Group Beauty Director

Clare Horner joined Harvey Nichols in January 2021 and brings with her over 20 years of experience in the Beauty industry, having worked both in retail buying and merchandising and brand-side in marketing and sales. After starting her Beauty buying career in Travel Retail with World Duty Free and British Airways, Clare joined Harrods as Senior Beauty Buyer. For over 10 years, Clare then worked as Sales Director for Kenneth Green Associates, the U.K.’s leading distributor of Fragrance and Beauty brands. Finally, after running her own consultancy business for independent beauty brands, Clare returned to retail when she commenced her role at Harvey Nichols.

Annabel Thorburn – Ecommerce & IT Director

Annabel joined Harvey Nichols in April 2023 bringing with her over 20 years experience in retail and consulting. Her career has taken her from Tesco, Isobar and latterly to Sweaty Betty.  With Tesco for over 10 years, her roles covered marketing, web development, customer experience and strategy, driving the proposition and growth of their online food business. In her most recent role as SVP Ecommerce at Sweaty Betty she was instrumental in moving SB to be a digital first company, delivering fourfold growth of their online sales and launching their marketplace business.