Salvatore Ferragamo Group said Friday that following its annual general meeting, Ferruccio Ferragamo was nominated executive chairman and James Ferragamo vice chairman. The chairman has been granted full power and authority to manage the company. The Ferragamo board’s approval on March 8 of the 2017 balance sheet marked the appointment of Ferruccio Ferragamo as interim CEO following the exit of Eraldo Poletto.
On Friday, the group’s board appointed Gucci veteran Micaela Le Divelec its new chief corporate officer — although in Italian, her role was described as general director. She will report to Ferruccio Ferragamo. Le Divelec and James Ferragamo, who is also brand and product officer, have been designated strategic managers of the company together with chief financial officer Ugo Giorcelli.
WWD first reported last week that sources indicated Le Divelec as a potential successor of Poletto, who was just tapped to lead Stuart Weitzman. Market sources on Friday contended that Le Divelec’s arrival at the Florence-based company could still signal this direction for Ferragamo.
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The board also appointed the following: a Control and Risks Committee, focused on transactions with related parties comprising independent directors Marzio Alessandro Alberto Saà as its president, Umberto Tombari and Chiara Ambrosetti; a Remuneration and Appointment Committee comprising independent directors Umberto Tombari as its president; Marzio Alessandro Alberto Saà and Lidia Fiori. Ferruccio Ferragamo was named president of the Product and Brand Strategy, which also includes Diego Paternò Castello di San Giuliano, Angelica Visconti and James Ferragamo. The board confirmed Marzio Alessandro Alberto Saà as lead independent director.
A market source said the committee “appears charged with mapping out future strategies for the company. Usually such a committee would include the top management including the CEO or whoever is designated to hold executive powers, but Ferruccio Ferragamo does not appear in this committee.”
As reported, a market source told WWD that Ferragamo had not started an official search to recruit a new CEO.
Le Divelec joined Gucci in 1998 and rose through the ranks to the role of executive vice president and chief corporate operations officer in September 2010. When she parted ways with Gucci, she held the role of executive vice president and chief consumer officer. Le Divelec, who hails from Florence, did double duty for Gucci when in 2014 she was also appointed CEO of Richard Ginori, tasked with the relaunch of the brand. Gucci took control of the historic Italian tableware and ceramics firm, based outside Florence, in 2013. Then little-known Alessandro Michele, who had joined Gucci’s design team in 2002, was concurrently appointed Ginori’s creative director.
In March, Ferruccio Ferragamo reiterated his family has no intention of selling the company, and the plan is to continue to appoint a person from outside the family to be its CEO. Michele Norsa led the company, including through its public listing in 2001, for a decade before Poletto.
