Zalando’s supervisory board nominates AI pioneer Peter Sarlin to strengthen AI leadership and drive innovation

Zalando’s supervisory board nominates AI pioneer Peter Sarlin to strengthen AI leadership and drive innovation

Berlin, 30 March 2026 // Zalando SE (“Zalando”) today announced that its supervisory board has proposed the election of Peter Sarlin, a European pioneer in machine learning and artificial intelligence, as supervisory board member at the annual general meeting (AGM) on 12 May 2026.

Sarlin will add strong, dedicated AI expertise to the supervisory board as Zalando, Europe's leading technology platform for fashion and lifestyle, scales a wide range of AI innovations to drive growth and efficiency across its entire business. Sarlin is the founder of Silo AI, Europe's largest private AI lab, which was acquired by AMD in 2024. He is also the chairperson of the board at companies NestAI and Qutwo, and a professor of practice at Aalto University, specialising in machine learning and AI.

Sarlin is nominated to succeed Susanne Schröter-Crossan, who has decided to step down from her supervisory board mandate effective at the end of the AGM. The supervisory board thanks Schröter-Crossan sincerely for her outstanding and wide-ranging contributions and her dedicated service to the company’s strategic development during her tenure.

Data, machine learning, and AI have been at the core of Zalando since its founding in 2008. The company is now supercharging the unique data and infrastructure platform it has built over 17 years - including the richest fashion-specific data set in Europe and the continent’s leading logistics fulfilment network - with AI to make its own operations more efficient and provide customers and partners with experiences and services that seemed impossible just a few years ago.

Zalando is embracing agentic commerce as an exciting opportunity to create true lifestyle agents that understand the full context of customers’ lives and proactively serve them across all their fashion and lifestyle needs. As Zalando is building towards new, conversational ways to shop by evolving its Zalando Assistant into a true personal lifestyle companion, the company is already partnering with Sarlin’s Qutwo, one of Europe's most ambitious AI labs.

“Peter will play a crucial role in governing and scaling our AI innovations further as we unlock tremendous value for our customers, our partners, and our business. He is an AI pioneer, and we are excited to work with him to embrace the tremendous opportunities ahead of us,” said Kelly Bennett, chairperson of the supervisory board. “On behalf of the board, I also want to express my deepest gratitude to Susanne Schröter-Crossan for her fantastic contribution and dedicated service to the company’s development during her tenure.”

The full invitation to the annual general meeting 2026 of Zalando SE is available on corporate.zalando.com.

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About Zalando
Founded in Berlin in 2008, Zalando is the leading European technology platform for fashion and lifestyle. Connecting 62 million active customers with more than 7,000 brands across 29 markets, our business is built on a unique AI-powered data and infrastructure platform. For our customers, our multi-app approach - comprising Zalando, ABOUT YOU, and Lounge by Zalando - delivers an inspiring, highly personalised shopping experience, serving different customers with different needs. For our partners, we are building the operating system for e-commerce. Through ZEOS, Tradebyte, and SCAYLE, we open our logistics, software, and service capabilities to brands and retailers, enabling them to seamlessly scale their businesses across borders. For further information, please visit: corporate.zalando.com/en
 

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