IKEA Retail U.S. Country Manager Lars Petersson to retire

Portrait of Javier Quiñones, Lars Petersson, and Tolga Öncü

Corporate newsPeople and Culture, Reports and summariesJune 16, 2020Last edited: September 29, 2021

Lars Petersson, Ikea's U.S. Retail Manager, retires after 36 years of service.

Pictured left to right: Javier Quiñones, Lars Petersson, and Tolga Öncü

01/25/2019 9:45 AM

[National]

Today, the company has announced that Lars Petersson, Country U.S. Retail Manager has decided to retire from IKEA Retail U.S. after 36 years with IKEA.

“On behalf of all co-workers, we thank Lars for his 36 years of dedication and contributions across multiple roles and markets, including Sweden, Italy, Japan and the U.S.,” said Tolga Öncü, Retail Operations Manager, Ingka Group. “He has always served as a great leader, co-worker and role model for IKEA culture and values, and we wish him the best of luck in his retirement.”

Lars joined IKEA as a Shopkeeper in the Malmö store in 1983. Over the years, he has held various positions such as Sales Manager IKEA Retail Sweden, Sales Manager Northern Europe, Marketing Manager IKEA Italy and Marketing Manager IKEA Group, where he led the development of the web platform and the re-launch of IKEA Family. Lars became U.S. Country Retail Manager in 2015.

“Over the past four years in the U.S., some of my proudest accomplishments are standing on the side of the many people – advocating for human rights, launching a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion network with ambassadors in each of our stores, and launching a new parental leave benefit for all co-workers,” says Lars.

Javier Quiñones has been appointed as the new U.S. Retail Country Manager, beginning March 1, 2019. Lars will stay on as senior advisor until end of August 2019.