EXCLUSIVE: Kohler Mira MD Liz Hazeldene steps down

Kohler Mira has confirmed that managing director Liz Hazeldene has left her post.

Hazeldene had been managing director at Kohler Mira for five years and had worked in the business in other roles since 2003, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The firm, which is based in the USA, said that a successor will be announced in a few weeks but in the interim, Craig Baker, Kohler Mira’s deputy managing director, has assumed Hazeldene’s day-to-day responsibilities.

Kohler’s UK business is one of the biggest employers in Gloucestershire and last summer the privately-owned firm signed a coveted multi-year sponsorship deal with Manchester United, which included match kit and perimeter advertising.

According to filings at Companies House, Hazeldene left her post on February 28.

Her sudden departure comes shortly before the European bathroom industry gathers in Frankfurt for the annual ISH event and Kohler Mira has given no reason for the decision.

In an exclusive interview with kbbreview in 2016, Hazeldene said that Mira showers was the jewel in the crown for Kohler and worth almost half of the shower market in the UK.

She said that it was “an amazing thing to work for a private business” and had a direct line of communication with the executive chairman, Herbert Kohler, whom she described as “a charismatic entrepreneur”, and chief executive David Kohler

“When we said we needed a new manufacturing facility for trays, he [David Kohler] said, ‘here’s a cheque for £6 million’.

“The upside of working for an entrepreneur is that if you go to them with an idea that will pay back, they’ll give you the money. It’s an amazing thing to work for a private business.”

Earlier this year, Kohler started work on a £20m distribution centre in a business park off junction six of the M5, underlining its commitment to the UK despite Brexit.

It has also been investing heavily in a smart bathroom range, which it showcased at the CES show in Las Vegas earlier this year, introducing an app-based ecosystem of bathroom product concepts that can be controlled through voice assistants, including Alexa and Google Home.

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