René Riedi Appointed Central and Latam Executive Advisor

René Riedi has been appointed as Central and Latam Executive Advisor. In his new function, René will be reporting to Julián Díaz and will cover two main areas of responsibility.

He will represent the Dufry Group and act as the company’s ambassador in Central and Latin America fostering the relationships with regulatory stakeholders and our business partners. This includes industry associations such as the International Association of Airport Duty Free Stores (IAADFS), which René has been Chairman of since July 2019 and which represents the interests of the American and Caribbean duty-free and travel industry, with more than 300 member companies. In this context, he will also be responsible for maintaining high-level contacts with airport operators, as well as identifying business opportunities outside of our traditional channels, thus contributing to the further development of the Group.

René will also assume management responsibility for the Miami Office for all administrative tasks related to the operation of the facility, including cultivating necessary relationships with local authorities.

René has been within Dufry since 1993 when he joined as Sales Manager Eastern Europe. From 2000 to 2012, he had responsibility for Eurasia as Chief Operating Officer for the region. In 2012, René crossed the Atlantic after having been appointed Chief Operating Officer for the America I Region, which at that time included all countries in Central and South America, except for Brazil & Bolivia (America II). With the introduction of the new Group structure in 2016 implemented following the integration of Nuance and World Duty Free, René was appointed Executive Officer Division Central and South America and successfully managed the region until August 2020.