French luxury goods group Kering SA is making some changes to its leadership team, announcing the departure of Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri.
Bizzarri will leave the Italian fashion house on September 23, Kering announced on Tuesday. He has held the position of CEO at Gucci since 2015 and has held various positions in the Kering Group management team for the past 18 years. The departure follows the split from Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele, who has also held the position since 2015 and left the fashion house at the end of last year after 20 years.
Jean-François Palus, the current Managing Director of the Kering Group, will take over Bizzarri’s position on an interim basis. His role will be to strengthen the teams and operations at Gucci as the house regains influence and momentum, and to prepare the leadership and organization for the future. For this he will resign from his role on the board of directors at Kering and move to Milan.
“Jean François was my right-hand man and a daily sparring partner for decades,” said Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault. “Now he will focus his energies on getting our greatest asset in top shape and I couldn’t be more grateful. I am confident that the changes we are announcing today will put Kering on a path that will put Kering on a path to long-term success and profitable growth.”
Kering appoints co-CEOs
Francesca Bellettini, head of the fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, will also take on another task within the parent company Kering in addition to her current role. Bellettini has been appointed Deputy CEO of Kering. In this function, she is responsible for the development of the brands of the group, which, in addition to Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci, also includes fashion houses such as Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Alexander McQueen. All Kering brand CEOs will report to her. To ensure a smooth transition, she will gradually take on her new role over the coming months. There was also a change at the top of Yves Saint Laurent, which Bellettini has been CEO of since 2013. So far, Kering has not given any more details.
“We are building a more robust organization to fully capitalize on the growth of the global luxury market,” said Pinault. “I look forward to working with Francesca in her new leadership role. She has been instrumental in growing sales sixfold since joining Saint Laurent and is a fantastic partner whose expertise will now benefit all brands and the group.”
Kering’s chief financial officer, Jean-Marc Duplaix, has also been appointed as the group’s deputy CEO. He is responsible for operations and finance and will lead all corporate functions of the group. He has served as Chief Financial Officer since 2012.
The change in Kering’s leadership team is aimed at improving the fashion house’s apex, further increasing operational competence at group level and strengthening the organization, according to the announcement.