Denise Fender exits G-Star RAW and begins new journey at Danish jewellery brand Pandora

Pandora has appointed Denise Fender as SVP Customer, Colleague & Channel Technology. She was previously at G-Star RAW where she served as Chief Digital Officer.

In a LinkedIn post, she said: “It’s an honour to begin my new journey with Pandora, the world’s largest jewellery brand. Based in the global office in Copenhagen, I will be leading the technology team to help shape the future of the brand, and partner with exceptional colleagues across digital, operations and leadership.”

She added: “I’m especially pleased to work with digital and retail expert David Walmsley (Chief Digital & Technology Officer) and grateful for the trust he has placed in me to be part of Pandora’s next chapter. For those who don’t know the story: Pandora has grown from a small Danish store into the world’s largest jewellery brand, with more than 2,700 concept stores, around 37,000 employees and millions of customers worldwide.”

“It was recently ranked the world’s second most sustainable company and is now entering a new era under CEO Berta de Pablos-Barbier. For all these reasons, I feel privileged to join at such an exciting moment of transformation.”

Fender concluded: “Finally, a heartfelt thank you to my former colleagues for their support, encouragement and warm messages over the past days and weeks. I will miss working with so many great people, and I’m confident our paths will cross again.”

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Digital retail will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards will open for entries in April. They celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 15th October.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.