Kieron Ritchard
Kieron was appointed as CEO of Fantastic Furniture in September 2018, a leading omni channel retailer with 84 owner-operator stores and vertically integrated manufacturing producing an Aussie-made sofa every 60 seconds. The team at Fantastic believe all Australians deserve great furniture they can truly afford and continue to challenge the status quo of traditional furniture retailers to get customers the look they want for less.
Kieron also serves as Chairperson of Dignity, a highly respected and fast-growing homeless services charity. Dignity were named 2019 Telstra Business of the Year, the first not-for-profit organisation to receive this prestigious gong in the 30-year history of the Awards.
Kieron started his career in 1990 as an insolvency accountant with Crowe Horwath in Sydney, developing an early specialisation in the hotel industry. Relocating to London with the firm’s hotel management consulting arm Horwath HTL in 1995, he worked on hotel feasibility and brand strategy assignments across Europe and the Middle East. He returned home to Australia in the lead up to the Sydney Olympic Games to work on corporate finance deals, real estate development and tourism advisory engagements with Andersen and PwC.
In 2002, Kieron moved to Hong Kong to lead Asia Pacific development for Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts, achieving significant network growth and China market entry. He later joined IHG PLC based in Shanghai to launch the Holiday Inn Express brand in Greater China and secured the first franchisor’s license ever issued to an international hotel group in mainland China. Returning to Australia in 2008 with IHG, Kieron turned his focus to multi-site operations as Vice President of Operations ANZSP.
He joined Yum! Brands in 2010 and became COO of KFC in South Pacific before moving to Transport for NSW as a founding director of NSW Trains, establishing it as an independent rail and bus entity. Immediately prior to joining Fantastic Furniture, Kieron was an Executive Director at Compass Group in Australia responsible for the turnaround of the core business portfolio spanning over 400 sites.
Kieron holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Accounting) from the University of Wollongong, a Master of Business Administration from the Australian Graduate School of Business and is a Graduate of Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Malls of the Future Summit 2025
- RETAILER LEADERS PANEL: What retailers want: Insights for creating successful shopping destinations and what retailers expect from landlords
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