Following Nicolas Bos’s promotion from Van Cleef & Arpels CEO to the head boss at Richemont, more new appointments have been announced this week.
Back in May, Richemont, the parent company of brands such as Cartier, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Panerai and Van Cleef & Arpels to name a few announced that Nicolas Bos, then-current CEO of Van Cleef & Arpels would take the role of CEO of Richemont from June 1st this year. But this meant a position open at Van Cleef & Arpels, and the watch world has been watching closely as to who would then be his successor and what this would mean for the wider groups of brands.
On top of this, the current CEO of Cartier, Cyrille Vigneron has announced his departure from Cartier, deciding to retire after eight successful years at the helm of the Maison. He will still be an active part of Cartier, assuming the position of Chairman of Cartier Culture & Philanthropy effective 1 September 2024. This also meant that more pieces on the Richemont chessboard would need to be moved around within the wider brands.
Earlier this week, our curiosity was put to rest as Richemont announced a re-shuffle of their C-suite across several of their brands due to these movements. Firstly, a successor to Cyrille Vigneron as the outgoing CEO of Cartier has been announced – the current CEO of Vacheron Constantin, Louis Ferla will take his place, effective September 1, 2024.
“I am delighted that Louis has accepted to take on the top role at Cartier. He has earned the admiration and respect of his colleagues across the Group and of the industry at large for having so brilliantly positioned Vacheron Constantin at the pinnacle of Haute Horlogerie. His experience and leadership qualities will prove invaluable for Cartier’s long-term success.”
Johann Rupert, Chairman of the Board – Richemont
Louis Ferla is no stranger to luxury, his tenure as CEO of Vacheron Constantin notwithstanding, has been with Richemont since 2001 in various roles, starting at Alfred Dunhill as Area Sales Manager in Hong Kong before moving to Cartier in 2006. Since then, he has held multiple roles including Cartier Chine CEO. In 2015, he was promoted to the jewellery Maison’s executive committee as International Director – Clients & Business, and in 2017 took up the position of CEO at Vacheron Constantin. This leaves a vacant position at Vacheron Constantin, which has yet to be announced and we wait eagerly for this in the coming days and weeks.
With Nicolas Bos’ ascension to the role of CEO of Richemont, a new CEO for Van Cleef & Arpels has been announced. Catherine Rénier, current CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre will take the reigns of Van Cleef & Arpels from September 1st and report to Nicolas Bos. Mrs. Rénier has 20 years of jewellery and luxury watchmaking experience at Richemont, first joining the Group in 1999 as Cartier North America’s Retail Development Director in New York.
“Catherine brings the perfect mix of experience and leadership skills to the role, which, coupled with her deep knowledge of the Maison, will enable her to ensure Van Cleef & Arpels long-term success.”
Nicolas Bos – Richemont CEO
She is also no stranger to Van Cleef & Arpels, having worked with the Maison from 2003 when she moved to Paris to join as Deputy Marketing Manager, and in 2008, relocating to Hong Kong to support the Maison’s growth in the Asia Pacific Region – first as Commercial Director, then as Managing Director for Hong Kong & Macau SAR, China. in 2011 she was appointed President for Asia Pacific before moving across to the role of CEO of Jaeger-LeCoultre in 2018. With this move, Philippe Hermann, Chief Financial Officer, will assume the role of interim CEO for Jaeger-LeCoultre until a new CEO is announced.
So it will be a big back end of the year for Richemont and their brands, and it will be interesting to see what the newly appointed CEO’s will bring to their respective brands. We’ll will be watching on eagerly and with interest!
