WWD Digital Daily

Gucci Names Chief Industrial and Supply Chain Officer

● This is a new role at Gucci and Massimo Vian will join the Italian luxury brand on Jan. 15 from Prada.

- BY LUISA ZARGANI

MILAN — The latest management change at Gucci sees Massimo Vian join as chief industrial and supply chain officer, effective Jan. 15.

This is a new role at Gucci and signals the increasing attention Italian luxury goods companies are paying to controllin­g the organizati­on and structure of the key manufactur­ing pipeline.

In his role, Vian will be responsibl­e for overseeing the developmen­t and manufactur­ing processes of leather goods, shoes, ready-to-wear and jewelry, Gucci said Friday. He will also supervise product allocation processes across the brand's different sales channels. He will report to Gucci's president and chief executive officer Jean-François Palus.

Most recently, he was chief operating officer at Prada, which he joined in 2020 after a brief stint as CEO at cashmere brand Falconeri. Previously, he was CEO for product and operations at Luxottica Group. He left the Italian giant eyewear manufactur­er in 2017 after 13 years. He had initially joined Luxottica as head of industrial engineerin­g. At the time of his exit, the late Leonardo Del Vecchio, founder of Luxottica, paid tribute to Vian, saying he had defined “a modern and innovative operations organizati­on."

At Prada, Vian reunited with former Luxottica CEO Andrea Guerra, who joined Prada as Group CEO last January.

Vian's appointmen­t at Gucci follows the exit of Massimo Rigucci, CEO of ArtLab and leather goods after 23 years at the Florenceba­sed brand, effective mid-January. ArtLab was unveiled in 2018 as Gucci's first leather goods and shoes industrial complex in Scandicci, near Florence.

Gucci has been going through some major changes in human resources, following the exit of former creative director Alessandro Michele in November last year. He was succeeded by Sabato De Sarno in January.

Gucci president and CEO Marco Bizzarri, who was named to that role in December 2014, exited the group in September after tripling sales since 2015, which reached 9.73 billion euros last year.

Palus, previously Gucci parent

Kering Group's managing director, succeeded Bizzarri.

Francesca Bellettini, Saint Laurent

CEO, was named a Kering deputy CEO, in charge of brand developmen­t. All Kering brand CEOs now report to Bellettini, who is tasked with steering them in their next stages of growth. In July, Jean-Marc Duplaix, chief financial officer since 2012, was also appointed a Kering deputy CEO, in charge of operations and finance.

Alessio Vannetti returned to Gucci as executive vice president, chief brand officer last September. Vannetti, who was Gucci's worldwide communicat­ions director from 2015 to 2019, spent the last three and a half years at Valentino as its chief brand officer.

Back at Gucci, he took over duties from Susan Chokachi, who left the company after 25 years of service, most recently as executive vice president, chief brand and client officer.

 ?? ?? Massimo Vian
Massimo Vian

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