diff --git a/requirements-swh.txt b/requirements-swh.txt
--- a/requirements-swh.txt
+++ b/requirements-swh.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 swh.storage >= 0.0.163
-swh.model >= 0.0.59
+swh.model >= 0.0.60
 swh.scheduler >= 0.0.39
 swh.loader.core >= 0.0.80
diff --git a/swh/loader/svn/converters.py b/swh/loader/svn/converters.py
--- a/swh/loader/svn/converters.py
+++ b/swh/loader/svn/converters.py
@@ -5,12 +5,9 @@
 
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Union
 
-from email import utils
-
 from swh.model.model import (
     Person, Revision, RevisionType, TimestampWithTimezone
 )
-from swh.loader.package.utils import EMPTY_AUTHOR
 
 from .utils import strdate_to_timestamp
 
@@ -34,7 +31,7 @@
     )
 
 
-def svn_author_to_swh_person(author: Union[str, bytes]) -> Person:
+def svn_author_to_swh_person(author: Union[None, str, bytes]) -> Person:
     """Convert an svn author to an swh person.
     Default policy: No information is added.
 
@@ -45,22 +42,7 @@
         a Person
 
     """
-    # TODO: Align this function and move it up as library helper function
-    if not author:
-        return EMPTY_AUTHOR
-
-    if isinstance(author, str):
-        author = author.encode('utf-8')
-
-    if b'<' in author and b'>' in author:
-        name, email = utils.parseaddr(author.decode('utf-8'))
-        return Person(
-            fullname=author,
-            name=name.encode('utf-8'),
-            email=email.encode('utf-8')
-        )
-
-    return Person(fullname=author, name=author, email=None)
+    return Person.from_address(author or b'')
 
 
 def build_swh_revision(
diff --git a/swh/loader/svn/svn.py b/swh/loader/svn/svn.py
--- a/swh/loader/svn/svn.py
+++ b/swh/loader/svn/svn.py
@@ -106,19 +106,11 @@
     def convert_commit_author(self, author):
         """Convert the commit author into an swh person.
 
-        The user becomes a dictionary of the form::
-
-            {
-              name: author,
-              email: '',
-              fullname: author
-            }
-
         Args:
             author (str): the commit author to convert.
 
         Returns:
-            The transformed author as dict.
+            Person: a model object
 
         """
         return converters.svn_author_to_swh_person(author)