EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
“That was a big career change for me,
entering into a big corporate
environment. Before long I moved into
the product department where I first
learned about margins and negotiations
of contracts and I stayed there from
2000 to 2007 doing various jobs in
buying and supply chain roles.”In 2005, the Italian-based Luxottica
Group purchased all OPSM shares and
effectively took control of all operations
of its 400 stores in Australia and New
Zealand. Anthea then took on her first
executive role with Luxottica Retail in
2007, as the Vice President of Product
Manufacturing and Supply Chain. Being
appointed in this role was a great
highlight in Anthea’s career, as she
recalls being promoted onto the
executive team while she was still on
maternity leave following the birth of
her second child.“That was a great thing for me, for the
organisation to show that they thought
my abilities were still there while I was
away from the workplace, in the middle
of bringing up my family. In 2009, I took
an interesting career diversion and
became responsible for IT — I was
effectively the CIO for Luxottica
Australia for two years. I learned a lot
about leading people in that role.
Another major career highlight for
me came in 2009 in the midst of the
global financial crisis, when I was
still responsible for product and
supply chain.”Anthea and her team were asked by the
parent organisation to reduce its
inventory holdings, so she developed a
project to completely re-engineer the
way the local division managed
inventory at stores to ensure a more
centralised method of buying and
distribution. “We shaved a significant
amount off our inventory costs in a
nine-month period, which was a
40 per cent reduction in our overallinventory holdings,” she says. “That
was really one of those big ‘wow — I did
that’ moments.”Then in 2013, Anthea moved to China
for her first CEO-like role for Luxottica.
In Shanghai, Anthea was officially
known as President of Optical Business
in China and Hong Kong for
LensCrafters (another Luxottica
subsidiary), which operated 350 stores
across the region.“Surviving China and seeing my plans
for the expansion come to fruition was
really great. It was a real highlight to be
able to go into a country where I didn’t
speak the language and had never been
involved with before, and still being
able to set a strategy and execute it,”
says Anthea. Intending to remain in
China for at least four years, Anthea
instead returned back to Australia after
only eighteen months when, in mid
2015, she was invited to take on her“That was a great thing for me, for the organisation to show that they
thought my abilities were still there while I was away from the
workplace, in the middle of bringing up my family.” – Anthea Muir