Zalando SE announced that its supervisory board has proposed the election of Peter Sarlin, a European pioneer in machine learning and artificial intelligence, as supervisory board member at the annual general meeting on 12 May 2026. Sarlin will add strong, dedicated AI expertise to the supervisory board as Zalando scales a wide range of AI innovations to drive growth and efficiency across its entire business. Sarlin is the founder of Silo AI, Europe's largest private AI lab, which was acquired by AMD in 2024, and also serves as chairperson of the board at companies NestAI and Qutwo, while maintaining a professor of practice position at Aalto University specializing in machine learning and AI.
The nomination represents a strategic intensification of Zalando's artificial intelligence capabilities at the highest governance level. Sarlin is nominated to succeed Susanne Schroter-Crossan, who has decided to step down from her supervisory board mandate effective at the end of the AGM. Data, machine learning, and AI have been at the core of Zalando since its founding in 2008, but this appointment signals a new phase of AI-driven transformation. The company is now supercharging the unique data and infrastructure platform it has built over 17 years with AI to make its own operations more efficient and provide customers and partners with experiences and services that seemed impossible just a few years ago.
Zalando is embracing agentic commerce as an exciting opportunity to create true lifestyle agents that understand the full context of customers' lives and proactively serve them across all their fashion and lifestyle needs. As Zalando builds toward new, conversational ways to shop by evolving its Zalando Assistant into a true personal lifestyle companion, the company is already partnering with Sarlin's Qutwo, one of Europe's most ambitious AI labs. This existing collaboration provides immediate continuity between Sarlin's expertise and Zalando's AI initiatives, creating a seamless transition from advisory partnership to governance oversight.
Kelly Bennett, chairperson of the supervisory board, emphasized Sarlin's crucial role in governing and scaling AI innovations as Zalando unlocks tremendous value for customers, partners, and the business. The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for European e-commerce, where artificial intelligence represents both a competitive advantage and operational necessity. Zalando's platform includes the richest fashion-specific data set in Europe and the continent's leading logistics fulfillment network, providing unique raw material for AI applications that competitors cannot easily replicate. The full invitation to the annual general meeting 2026 of Zalando SE is available on corporate.zalando.com.
