Andrew Flanagan appeared to have a glittering resume with senior roles at global retailers Tesco PLC, Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Zara’s parent company, Inditex SA, when he was hired by a leading Australian firm.
However, in his first week as one of the key executives at top department store Myer Holdings Ltd, he was sacked on Tuesday for allegedly falsifying his CV.
It emerged that he had never worked for Spanish clothing giant Zara, as claimed, and questions were raised over the rest of his career.
The case has caused a stir within Australia’s recruitment and retail industries and raised questions about how Flanagan could have secured a senior position without red flags being raised.
Flanagan’s recruiter, Quest Personnel, yesterday said Myer was not the only firm interested in hiring him on the basis of his apparent experience, with several leading retailers also interviewing him “at length.”
“Some of these interviews took place at board level,” Quest managing director Lorraine Tribe said in a statement, adding that “detailed reference checks were carried out both locally and internationally.”
Flanagan was believed to be an American living in southeast Melbourne, according to company registry documents seen by Fairfax Media and News Ltd.
He reportedly had a young son and participated in a swimming club in the southern Australian city. Tribe said her firm had reported Flanagan to investigators, although Victorian police said they could not confirm that.
“For his successful position, Mr Flanagan was interviewed by Quest Personnel and also by senior executives of the client on at least three occasions,” she said. “It now appears that both Quest and regrettably our clients were provided with incorrect and misleading information in relation to Mr Flanagan’s employment history.”
Zara told Fairfax Media that Flanagan “was not part and has never been employed by the company.”
“He has not held the position of managing director and vice president for Asia Pacific,” as he claimed, Zara added.
Myer announced last week that Flanagan had been hired as its group general manager for strategy and business development and would report directly to the company’s chief financial officer.
The retailer, which runs one of Australia’s largest department store chains, told the Herald Sun that “Flanagan’s contract has been terminated” and there were “a number of investigations taking place.”
Flanagan was not available for comment.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last