Marta Ortega, daughter of the founder of Inditex (Zara) will assume the reins of the textile empire

Marta Ortega, the daughter of the billionaire founder of Inditex Amancio Ortega, will assume the presidency of the textile empire in a change of era for the Spanish group that owns Zara.

“The Inditex Board of Directors, at the initiative of its president Pablo Isla and its founder Amancio Ortega, has approved the appointment of Marta Ortega Pérez as president of the group“Inditex indicated in a statement.

The 37-year-old daughter of Amancio Ortega will replace Pablo Isla, who had been appointed Chairman of Inditex by his father in 2011. The heiress will assume her duties, after being approved by vote by the shareholders, “as of April 1, 2022″ The group specified.

Inditex did not explain the reasons for leaving Isla, known as someone close to Amancio Ortega. According to the statement, which spoke of a “relief generational“, The change occurs”the initiative”Of the island itself and of Amancio Ortega.

Marta Ortega, born on January 10, 1984 from the union of Amancio Ortega and his second wife Flora Pérez, in the last 15 years she has held various positions of responsibility in the group created by her father and was considered his natural heir.

“I will always be where the company needs me”He said in a rare August 2021 interview with the Wall Street Journal, fueling speculation about his future in the group.

“I would like to be close to the product. It’s what my father has always done”He added.

“New stage”

The designation of Marta Ortega It is part of a broad reorganization in the leadership of Inditex, which created a “Management Committee, made up of executives from different corporate and business areas, and with a long history in the group”, According to the statement

Marta Ortega will be seconded by Óscar García Maceiras, appointed CEO of Inditex “with immediate effects”. García Maceiras began working for the group last March, after extensive experience in the banking sector.

With this renovation, came “the moment to approach this new stage”From Inditex, said Pablo Isla, who thanked Amancio Ortega for“ the support and trust ”.

“I have always said that I would dedicate my life to developing the legacy of my parents, looking to the future, but learning from the past and serving the company“, said Marta Ortega, cited alike in the statement.

“I have lived this company since my childhood and I have learned from all the great professionals I have worked with during the last 15 years”, He pointed out.

This new team did not generate much enthusiasm in the markets. Inditex’s share lost 5% at the start of the session on the Madrid Stock Exchange, although it then slightly reduced its losses to 4.5% towards the end of Tuesday morning.

Inditex, founded in 1985 par Amancio OrtegaThe son of a railroad worker who started working at age 13 as a simple shirt salesman, he is the world’s leading mass fashion group, ahead of Sweden’s H&M.

Present in the five continents, I group eight ‘ready-to-wear’ fashion brands such as Zara, Stradivarius, Bershka or Massimo Dutti, and has more than 6,500 stores often located in the main commercial arteries of the world.

The success of the group made its founder a multimillionaire, the youngest of four brothers and often considered the father of so-called fast fashion.

According to Forbes magazine, his net worth amounts to $ 76 billion.

Since 2011, Amancio Ortega he no longer holds any executive position at Inditex. But depending on his surroundings, he continues to go to the company’s headquarters in Arteixo, a city of 30,000 inhabitants 15 km from La Coruña, in the Galicia region (northwest).