Operations, Product Development, Sales and Technical Support Growth: The Swiss textile innovation leader HeiQ announces two new leadership role hires and new subsidiary in Iberia.

Widyanti Winarto is named Group Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Raquel Vaz Vieira is named Brandforce Director Iberia. Winarto brings solid supply chain management expertise with a strong focus in strategic sourcing and international operations. She has an engineering degree in clothing technology and an MBA from the Copenhagen Business School. She has worked in China, Germany and Switzerland and managed multi-national teams. In her different roles Winarto has set up and led new global sourcing platforms and implemented strategic changes for quality improvement and process optimization. Winarto will oversee and optimize operations for the entire group.

“I am excited to join the HeiQ team as it offers an environment that encourages and expects its employees to make a difference” says Winarto. “Operations and supply chain are the backbone of the company to grow and add value to our customers.”

Vaz Vieira will manage brand relations and technical support in the Iberian region, co-develop the home textiles market and lead innovations on the newest HeiQ thermoregulation offerings. Her experience includes management of both the phase change materials (PCM) and thermoregulation microencapsulation business units at Devan Chemicals with a track record on bringing value-adding startup technologies to market at a global scale. She holds a Chemistry Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree on functional textiles from Minho University and an Executive Innovation Master’s Degree from the Vierick Business School.

“I joined HeiQ because of my passion to innovate and sell products that solve a market need” says Vaz Vieira. “HeiQ is the leader in creating high-end textile innovations with their brand partners to deliver accredited value to end customers.”

HeiQ continues to increase its global footprint with the creation of HeiQ Iberia which aims to provide dedicated technical support in Portugal and Spain as it is an important textile region for many of HeiQ’s brand partners and a strategic location of many manufacturing activities.

HeiQ’s co-founder and Group CEO, Carlo Centonze says “At HeiQ, we believe our people are our success. With Widyanti and Raquel on our team, we add more experience and strength to our team and we are proud they decided to join HeiQ’s mission to improve the lives of people through innovation in textiles”.