Kitopi Announces Appointment of Heike Virmond as Chief People Officer

We are delighted to announce that we have welcomed Heike Virmond as our new Chief People Officer.

A PhD holder from Technical University Dresden, Heike brings with her extensive experience across consulting and industry, gained from some of the biggest global brands such as Bain & Company and Netflix. Originally a Financial Economist, Heike started her career with Bain before her passion for individual and organizational growth led her to the Human Resources space. In this space, Heike served as Regional Talent Leader within Netflix’s Europe/Middle East/Africa team before acting as Chief People Officer for Gategroup, the world’s leading airline catering company.

Heike’s appointment follows Kitopi’s new direction as a multi-brand restaurant, where, from an initial focus on on-demand delivery, we now operate a portfolio of both invested and franchised F&B brands, helping brands to grow and scale in both the delivery and dine-in space.

As Chief People Officer of Kitopi, Heike will drive the People strategy and play a central role in bringing Kitopi’s Best Place to Work ambition to life.

Mohamad Ballout, CEO and co-founder of Kitopi, commented, “We are very excited that Heike is joining our journey. She is an exceptional talent with a successful track record of bringing strategy and people together to achieve business outcomes. Heike is a leader with a passionate focus on unleashing an organization’s potential through people while remaining committed to employee empowerment and development. I have no doubt that Heike will bring tremendous value to Kitopi and help accelerate our mission to satisfy the world’s appetite.”

On joining Kitopi, Heike shared, “I am grateful and excited to join Kitopi’s leadership team in building a best place to work. With its groundbreaking tech-innovation, Kitopi has enjoyed tremendous growth in just 4 years, all thanks to the passion and commitment of its people. As Chief People Officer, my ambition is to further embed a people-first culture that celebrates diversity and unleashes high performance the human way”.