Dreams appoints new CFO and CIO

Bed retailer Dreams has announced the appointment of Petra Kasperova as the new chief financial officer, effective from the end of June, and Dan West as chief information officer. 

Kasperova has been promoted to CFO from her role as director of finance and insight, having 19 years of experience at the company. 

In her new role, she will be responsible for leading finance and insight, and will assume accountability for Dreams’ risk, health and safety team. 

Kasperova’s appointment comes as current CFO Kim Zaheer is stepping down after 15 years in the role.

Meanwhile West, who takes the role of Dreams’ first CIO, will be responsible for running the company’s technology department, leveraging technology investment to create business value and delivering world class digital customer experience to help facilitate the retailer’s growth strategy. 

He first joined the executive management team in May, reporting directly to group chief executive Jonathan Hirst. West brings over 30 years of senior experience across a variety of businesses including Lastminute.com, New Look and Asos. 

Jonathan Hirst, CEO of Dreams, said: “I would like to pay tribute to Kim’s huge contribution to this business over the past 15 years, and personally thank him for his support and friendship over that time. He has been instrumental in delivering the turnaround and setting Dreams up for continued growth. We’ll miss him and wish him well.

“I’m delighted that to promote Petra to CFO – this appointment from within the business shows the strength of the team we have here. Her deep understanding of our business makes her the ideal person for the role as we enter this next phase of growth.”

He added: “Dan brings with him a wealth of experience that is exactly what we need to take our IT capabilities to the next level. I’m looking forward to welcoming Dan to Dreams. ”

Kasperova said: “I’m incredibly excited to have been promoted to CFO and asked to become part of the Dreams senior leadership team. 

“Having been at Dreams for 19 years now, I look forward to this new chapter leading the business’ finance team as we continue to drive sustainable profitable growth and deliver our long-term strategy.” 

West added: “I’m delighted to join Dreams at this exciting time in this newly created role and to be given the opportunity to create a true omnichannel experience, leveraging data and information to help create the best journey for our customers.”