LONDON – Compagnie Financière Richemont is elevating the bar on its magnificence enterprise with the formation of Laboratoire de Haute Parfumerie et Beauté, a division geared toward scaling the perfume manufacturers in its rising portfolio.
Boet Brinkgreve has been named CEO of the division and stories to firm chairman Johann Rupert.
The brand new platform “will leverage sources throughout our maisons to assist develop essentially the most refined creations and promising licenses,” in line with Richemont.
The corporate added that Brinkgreve will assist the six Richemont maisons already concerned in perfume “to achieve crucial mass on this extremely aggressive discipline, the place scale is essential.”
Richemont manufacturers with fragrances embrace Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chloé, Dunhill, Alaïa and Montblanc.
“Boet’s position might be instrumental in enabling our maisons to achieve their full potential on this dynamic market, broadening their clientele base while enhancing the maisons’ capabilities to satisfy the wants of their extremely discerning clientele,” mentioned Rupert.
“Together with his deep information of the perfume trade, prior success in driving new ventures, exceptional observe report in constructing profitable worldwide groups and dedication to sourcing sustainable substances, I’m satisfied that Boet will show to be a notable addition to the group.”
Brinkgreve will even be a part of Richemont’s Senior Govt Committee.
The corporate didn’t provide any additional particulars concerning the new division. Richemont’s formation of a magnificence platform comes simply weeks after its longstanding accomplice Farfetch confirmed it was exiting the wonder class.
Brinkgreve joins Richemont from Dsm-Firmenich, the place he held a lot of senior govt positions from 2007 till 2023. His newest position was president of Components & Group Procurement and a member of the manager committee.
He has additionally labored for DuPont in enterprise improvement roles and is an entrepreneur who has based a number of start-ups. A Dutch-born Swiss nationwide, he holds a masters’ diploma in enterprise administration from Insead.
Individually, Richemont mentioned that Gary Saage, the group’s former chief monetary officer, might be proposed for election to the board on the firm’s annual basic assembly on Wednesday. If elected he’ll be named chairman of Richemont’s audit committee.
The straight-talking Saage is a Richemont veteran and has served on the board up to now. On the quarterly press calls and analyst shows, he was participating, thorough in his responses, and barely swerved a troublesome query.
Richemont mentioned he brings with him “invaluable information” of the corporate, related monetary expertise and the “monetary self-discipline” to carry out this necessary position.
A graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson College in New Jersey and a Licensed Public Accountant, Saage joined Cartier in 1988. In subsequent years served as chief working officer of Richemont in North America and Dunhill in London.
In 2006, he moved to Geneva to behave as group deputy finance director, and in 2010 was promoted to chief monetary officer. He served on the board of administrators from 2006 till 2021 when he stepped down from his CFO position.
He returned full-time to the U.S. and served as chairman of Richemont North America and associated firms till August 2023 in a non-executive capability, overseeing governance issues.
Richemont chairman Johann Rupert welcomed Saage again to the board, and mentioned he can be an asset as head of the audit committee.
“This can be a complicated position that requires proficiency of accounting and regulatory issues, enterprise acumen in addition to the braveness to talk up in difficult conditions, all competencies that he has clearly demonstrated throughout his lengthy profession. It additionally requires deep institutional information which Gary, having joined Cartier the 12 months I based Richemont and labored throughout totally different elements of the group, indisputably has,” mentioned Rupert.
On Wednesday, Richemont additionally made different appointments to its senior govt committee. Swen Grundmann will be a part of the committee in his new capability as director of company affairs along with sustaining his position as group firm secretary. He’ll proceed to report back to Rupert.
A Dutch nationwide, Grundmann holds a legislation diploma from the School of Legislation from the College of Amsterdam. He began his profession at Richemont in 1996 as authorized counsel and was appointed group firm secretary in 2017 and was concerned in numerous merger and acquisition tasks.
