Secret Sales appoints high-calibre CTO

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jun 14, 2023

Premium fashion and beauty marketplace Secret Sales has named highly-rated fashion industry tech exec Leon Shepherd as its new Chief Technology Officer.

Shepherd joins Secret Sales from Ted Baker where he served as Chief Information Officer and Digital Strategy Director since 2017. Prior to this, he held various roles at Jack Wills, FatFace and, for M&S, as head of e-commerce technology and international IT. He also worked for nine years at Vodafone, leading the company's mobile technology.

And the high-calibre appointment comes as Secret Sales invests heavily in technology to supercharge an aggressive global growth plan. In May, the business raised £8 million in funding to accelerate its journey towards “becoming Europe’s largest marketplace for non-full-price fashion... by 2025".

As CTO, Shepherd will be key, taking responsiblity for “enhancing the company’s integrated technology stack to deliver a seamless next-generation marketplace platform for brands, retailers and consumers".

He will advance the company’s use of "industry-leading" technology, including harnessing its dynamic forecasting tools "to help brands accelerate the sales and margins from their seasonal surplus stock".

The role will also see Shepherd lead the implementation of Secret Sales’ new website, using Progressive Web App (PWA) technologies. This will allow online and offline navigation by storing parts of the data displayed in the site, delivering "vastly enhanced user experience that is several times faster than most platforms”.

Chris Griffin, CEO of Secret Sales, said: “Technology is at the heart of what we do and plays a critical role in driving efficiencies and profitability for brands and retailers on our marketplace. So we’re really pleased to have Leon here, taking the next step in his career with us, and accelerating our technology investment."

He added: "Leon’s worked in almost every kind of role in tech, and with some of the biggest in the business, and his unique perspective on the industry will be invaluable as we continue to make huge leaps both in the UK and internationally.”

Shepherd said: “Joining Secret Sales is a real opportunity for me to help build an industry game-changing technology platform.

“What the team has already done is so revolutionary, and I’m looking forward to taking it to yet another level by implementing PWA, and further industry-leading technologies for the business across Europe.”

He added: “The leadership has such a great appreciation and understanding of the importance of technology, every single person in the business is passionate about helping the business grow, and I’m eager to take this opportunity with both hands and run with it.”