Richemont reshuffles top deck after poor H1

Richemont CEO Richard Lepeu and CFO Gary Saage have decided to retire from their respective positions in 2017. The Board has now decided to restructure the responsibilities of senior management in the Group. Johann Rupert will remain as Executive Chairman of the group.

Commenting on their retirement, Rupert, said, “I would like to thank both Richard Lepeu and Gary Saage for their invaluable contribution to Richemont over the past 30 or so years in the case of Richard and some 28 years for Gary. Both have been loyal and hard-working colleagues. That the Group’s cash flow, even in these difficult times, has been so strong is a tribute to Gary’s management of the balance sheet.”

The company has announced that Nicolas Bos will join the board in his capacity as CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels; Burkhart Grund, currently Deputy Chief Financial Officer will become Chief Financial Officer; Georges Kern, currently CEO of IWC Schaffhausen, will be Head of watchmaking, marketing and digital and Jérôme Lambert, currently CEO of Montblanc will be Head of Operations responsible for central and regional services and all maisons other than jewellery and watchmaking.

Yves-André Istel, Bernard Fornas, Richard Lepeu, Simon Murray, Norbert Platt, Lord Renwick of Clifton, Juergen Schrempp and The Duke of Wellington will retire from the Board of Directors of Richemont at the 2017 annual general meetingand join a new International Advisory Council. Messrs Fornas, Lepeu and Platt, together with Alain-Dominique Perrin, will be appointed as senior advisors to Group management, liaising directly with the Executive Chairman and senior executives. Burkhart Grund, Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Frank Vivier, Chief Transformation Officer, will join the group management committee with immediate effect.