John Hoerner
John Hoerner has been a successful retailer for more than 50 years. His work has taken him from Hovland-Swanson specialty store in Lincoln Nebraska where he started work in 1959 while still at University to Wolf Brothers specialty store in Kansas City, to Hahne’s in New Jersey to H&S Pogue in Cincinnati to L S Ayres in Indiana, all divisions of Associated Dry Goods, subsequently acquired by May Company and now part of Federated Department Stores.
In 1987 he was recruited by the Burton Group to run Debenhams a 59 store chain of Department Stores in the UK. Debenhams grew and prospered over the next five years to one of the most profitable groups of department stores anywhere and in 1992 Hoerner was made Chief Executive of its Parent Company, The Burton Group, with over 2000 stores in the UK. In 1998 Hoerner led the de-merger of Debenhams from the Burton Group which made substantial returns for shareholders compared to the share price when he became Chief Executive.
The remaining chains of multiples were renamed Arcadia Group which Hoerner ran until 2000 when he retired from Arcadia. In 2001 he joined Tesco, the world’s third largest retailer, based in the UK, to lead the development of their clothing business. In 2006 he took on another Tesco assignment to consolidate the clothing businesses in Central Europe and Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia all joined forces in clothing to develop a powerful business. Since 2008 Hoerner has been a consultant for Tesco helping with development of Tesco clothing in China, Korea, Thailand, India, Malaysia and Turkey.
Hoerner is a keen pilot, a hobby which he put to good use visiting stores during his career in the UK. He was a trustee of the London Battersea Dogs & Cats Home for 19 years, 7 years as Vice Chairman and 4 years as Chairman. He served for three years as Chairman of the British Fashion Council which sponsors London Fashion Week. John lives on a farm in Gloucestershire with his wife Anna, their three horses, and their five rescue dogs from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
