Gorinchem, Netherlands – Nexeye, the international retail platform behind optical brands Hans Anders, eyes + more and Direkt Optik, has appointed Theo Willemse as Chief Retail Officer (CRO) as of 1 June 2026. In this new role within nexeye, Theo is responsible for leading the entire retail organization across the group, covering all brands and countries.
The appointment underscores nexeye’s ambition to further accelerate its strong international growth and to prepare its retail organization for the next phase of scaling. The company is currently opening an average of two new eyes + more stores per week and has ambitious expansion plans in Germany, Austria and Sweden, among others. Nexeye aims to grow to 1,000 stores in Europe by 2028.
As Chief Retail Officer, Willemse will lead an integrated Group Retail organization. His responsibilities include Sales, Retail Operations, Workforce Management and Retail Project Management. By bringing these disciplines together, nexeye strengthens the organization’s operational effectiveness, shortens decision-making processes and accelerates the rollout of successful retail initiatives across different countries and formats.
"nexeye has now reached a scale where strong operational leadership and a close link between strategy and execution are becoming increasingly important,” says Bart van den Nieuwenhof, CEO of nexeye. “Theo brings a unique combination of commercial drive, operational expertise and people-oriented leadership. He is therefore the right person to lead our retail organization into its next phase of growth.
Willemse brings extensive experience in retail, operations and managing large-scale multi-site organizations. He previously served as Commercial Operations Director at Optisport, where he was responsible for the commercial and operational performance of a large network of locations. Prior to that, he held the position of Executive Director Sales & Operations at Jumbo Supermarkten, where he led the sales and operations organization of more than 700 stores and over 100,000 employees. Throughout his career, he has overseen several large-scale transformation and growth initiatives within dynamic retail environments.
Theo Willemse: “nexeye is currently in a highly exciting phase of growth. By connecting retail teams and disciplines even more closely, we can respond faster to opportunities in the market, further strengthen our stores and continuously improve the customer experience. I look forward to building the next phase of European growth together with all teams across the organization.”