The Austrian crystal glass manufacturer Swarovski is breaking new ground: on Tuesday the company announced the appointment of Alexis Nasard as the new CEO. For the first time in its 127-year history, the company will be managed by a manager who is not a member of the founding and owner family.
Swarovski had already announced last autumn that it wanted to leave the management to external experts in the future. At that time, Robert Buchbaum, the last CEO from the family circle, announced his resignation. Since then, Michele Molon has managed the company on an interim basis. After Nasard’s arrival on July 4, he will transition to the newly created “key position” of chief commercial officer, the company said.
Nasard most recently worked as Senior Business Advisor at the management consultancy McKinsey & Company. Before that, he was CEO of the market research institute Kantar and the shoe company Bata.
Luisa Delgado, Chair of the Board of Directors, explained the groundbreaking importance of the appointment: “With the appointment of Swarovski’s first external CEO, we are taking another important step in establishing a sustainable management model,” she said in a statement. “We are very pleased to have found a highly experienced and transformational leader in new CEO Alexis Nasard, able to lead Swarovski in preserving its unique luxury heritage and transforming the company.”