Who is the ceo of valentino

Maison

The Maison Valentino was founded in 1960 by Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti. Valentino is a protagonist of international fashion, and from 2008 until 2016, has gone through an impactful creative evolution.

The Maison Valentino plays a major role in the luxury division through tradition and innovation, a necessary combination for a creative industry that generates the sense of beauty.
Valentino’s fashion is displayed through the Haute Couture and Prêt-à-Porter lines for women and for men and through the Valentino Garavani accessories lines that include shoes, bags, small leather goods, eyewear, scarves, ties and fragrances. An aesthetic universe, present in over 100 countries through 175 Valentino directly-operated boutiques and over 1500 points of sale.

7th July 2016: Valentino nominates Pierpaolo Piccioli sole Creative Director of the Maison.

An aesthetic, contemporary vision and the excellence in the execution, are the guidelines of the industrial process and of the artisanal and handmade workmanship that are entirely produced in the historic Atelier of Piazza Mignanelli in Rome, where the specialized ‘Bottega Couture’ couture school, has recently opened.

The brand today

Valentino S.p.A. is controlled since 2012 by Mayhoola for Investments LLC. The acquisition has brought a rapid growth in the potential of the Valentino brand.

Valentino is amongst the leaders of international fashion to believe in the elevated added value that derives from a global vision of style, developed through collections of Haute Couture, Prêt-à-Porter, Valentino Garavani accessories, eyewear and fragrances licensed in partnership with L’Oréal.

H.E. Mr. Rachid Mohamed Rachid

Rachid Mohamed Rachid is a prominent Egyptian entrepreneur with investments around the world and is the former Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment to Egypt. Rachid is currently the Founder of Alsara Investment Group, the Chairman of Valentino and the Chairman of Balmain; two of the leading luxury fashion companies in the world. Rachid is also the Founder of Bidayat, an international investment company, which supports creative entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean region.

Rachid earned a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alexandria in and an Advanced Management Diploma from the Harvard Business School. Rachid was the President of Unilever North Africa, which led several of Unilever’s largest international companies across the globe.

Rachid was also the Minister of Trade and Industry of Egypt and was the first international businessman to hold an Egyptian cabinet post in recent history. Rachid played a significant role in the liberalization of Egypt’s economy, successfully implementing major reforms that strengthened the country’s core industrial sectors and attracted significant foreign investment. During his tenure, Egypt’s annual industrial growth surpassed 20% and yearly exports tripled in value.

Rachid is a holder of "Cavaliere di Gran Croce, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" presented to him by the president of the Italian Republic and is currently a board member of the Katara Hospitality Group in Qatar and the co-Chairman of the Virginia Commonwealth University Advisory Committee in Doha.

Jacopo Venturini

Jacopo Venturini is the Chief Executive Officer of Valentino S.p.A.
In June 2020 he returns for the third time to the Maison, spurred by a strong passion for the brand and longstanding relationship with Creative Director Pierpaolo Piccioli.

Leveraging on his multi-pronged expertise, sensitivity and global vision, Venturini has been appointed to lead the Maison in a new phase, aiming to create an effective medium and long-term strategy. “I do believe that Jacopo, with his sharp vision and unique capability in sensing market changes, will inject in Valentino new vibrant energies. We are happy to have him lead the new brand course.” says Rachid
Mohamed Rachid.

After earning a degree in Economics and Business at the Bocconi University in Milan, Jacopo Venturini chose to bond his studies with his passion for fashion, an atypical match back then.
In 1995 he joined La Rinascente, the Italian landmark department store, as a buyer. He refined his skills and familiarized with the fashion system.

In 2000 he arrives for the first time to Maison Valentino as Womenswear and Menswear Brand Manager.Five years later, he was tapped by Prada as Merchandising Coordinator of the Womenswear Collection.

In 2008 he returns in Valentino as Ready-To-Wear Collection and Retail Image Director until 2015, where he worked closely with the Creative Direction. In those years, Maison Valentino became a powerful and successful design identity brand, spanning through Couture, Ready-To-Wear, Accessories, Eyewear and Fragrances. In 2015 Jacopo Venturini was appointed Executive Vice President Merchandising and Global Markets at Gucci, channeling his expertise and vision to interlace the creative side with the demands of the markets and the customers.

He refined his skills and foresight in his career on the belief that creativity is a source of inspiration, managing to establish a concrete conversation between the creative genius and all areas.

ROME — “I work before I talk, I keep a low profile, it’s my personality.”

With this statement, Jacopo Venturini, chief executive officer of Valentino, laid out his plans for the storied brand for the first time, a year and three months into his job.

The first step after arriving at the company was “to make a strong statement. Valentino is the most established Italian maison de couture, with the strongest heritage,” he said.

This is a pillar for Venturini, which was reflected in his decision to stage Wednesday’s meeting at Valentino’s storied headquarters in Piazza Mignanelli in Rome, a few steps away from the Spanish Steps, followed by a tour of the brand’s couture ateliers. Seamstresses carefully stitched away on dreamy wedding dresses and exquisitely crafted gowns, preserving a tradition that is the jewel in the crown of the brand.

“Two words — maison and couture — open a series of values that create and permeate the culture of the company,” said Venturini in his soft-spoken and affable way. “Returning to Valentino for the third time is a gift life gave me. I felt the brand needed to be repositioned and I needed to make a choice.”

This included the closure of sister brand Red Valentino, which should be completed in two years. “It’s very important to have Valentino under one single label, it’s a strategy that I’ve always had in mind,” he explained.

Venturini was previously executive vice president, merchandising and global markets at Gucci, a role he left in October 2019. After starting his career in fashion at Rinascente as a buyer from 1995 to 1999, he joined Valentino in 2000 as women’s wear and men’s wear brand manager until 2004.

He moved to Prada in 2005 as merchandising coordinator of the women’s wear collection until 2008. That year he returned to Valentino as ready-to-wear collection director and retail image director, staying on until 2015, when he joined Gucci.

He touted “a very strong alchemy from the beginning” with creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, whom he’s known for 20 years.

A key element is that Valentino “belongs to this [luxury and couture] world, but we are smaller, and this is the advantage,” which allows the brand to grow in a solid way according to its values and culture — one that is becoming increasingly customer-centric, he underscored.

Venturini joined Valentino in June 2020, a few months after the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread globally. The company was not immune to the impact of the health emergency, reporting a net loss of 127 million euros in 2020, compared with a profit of 33 million euros in 2019, on revenues that were down 28 percent to 882 million euros.

However, things are turning around and Venturini said on Wednesday that revenues increased 64 percent in the first half of 2021 to 574 million euros, compared with 362 million euros in the same period last year, and almost flat compared with 2019.

Asked if he expected the company to return to the black in 2021, Venturini said his outlook was positive but that he wanted to wait until the end of the year before providing a definite answer.

The growth in the first half was driven by online sales, the Middle East, U.S. and Greater China regions.

“We are underexposed and have a strong potential to grow in Mainland China,” said Venturini. “In the last year, we started exploring new locations like Shenzhen and we are looking into requalifying locations such as Hangzhou where we are already present.”

In Mainland China there are 27 Valentino directly operated stores and five franchised units.

For example, Valentino selected Greater China to launch its international project called Re-Signify in 2020, presenting the first leg in Shanghai last December. The second part of the brand experience will open in October at SKP in Beijing. The ambition is to reinforce the Valentino codes for the future. “Our approach is humble, we want to tell more about ourselves to the market so that it can get to know us.”

The executive underscored that the goal of the company is to open stores “in a granular way,” reaching customers wherever they are, also through pop-up installations such as the one set up in a partnership with the Phillips Auction House in Southampton, N.Y., to showcase its Valentino Escape 2021 collection in June and July.

The company sees opportunities in Miami and in New Jersey next year. It plans to open a Sydney flagship, whose opening was delayed by the pandemic, and is now expected in 2022. A new mall franchised door is slated to open in Doha next year and Venturini sees new opportunities in Korea, in Lotte Seoul; in Saudi Arabia; in Geneva, Venice, and in Mainland China in new cities such as Shenzhen in 2022; in Guangzhou, and in Wuhan in 2023.

Valentino has a total of 225 stores, of which 196 are directly operated.

Retail and wholesale sales account for 55 and 45 percent of total revenues, respectively, but Venturini’s goal is to have retail reach 70 percent of revenues in the next five years. “Wholesale can give visibility and create stimulating partnerships, but we believe we have to be more selective and choose the right partners for more visibility,” he contended.

The company is also working on a new store concept, he added.

E-commerce has been growing at a triple-digit pace and Venturini said that the combination of a more engaging e-commerce and an omnichannel strategy allowed the company to see an increase in online penetration from 5 percent in 2019 to 15 percent in 2020, and “it is still growing at the moment.”

Venturini was also asked about the rumors that repeatedly surround Valentino, such as a possible sale by owner Mayhoola, potential acquisitions or an initial public offering. He deferred the answer to the owners of the brand. In March, a Mayhoola spokesperson said “there is no desire to take into consideration selling Valentino , we are fully committed to the brand and the company’s success. Also, there is no intention of launching an IPO in the near future.“

Venturini reiterated that all production is made in Italy and that Valentino has through the years set up joint ventures for the manufacture of shoes and bags. “We have a good structure,” he said.

Valentino has two licenses, for eyewear with Luxottica and for beauty and fragrances with L’Oréal. Venturini said that the launch of the Voce Viva fragrance fronted by Lady Gaga last September and of its makeup in June “overachieved expectations.”

He admitted there were plans to expand the product portfolio but said it needed to be done “step by step” and consistently with the brand’s “genuine and spontaneous path. I like its authenticity, we are not merely following opportunities.”

Accessories helped drive business in the first half, but the company is expanding its ready-to-wear in daywear, he said, with more separates, “while protecting the business of eveningwear.” Men’s wear, which Piccioli unveiled also for couture for spring 2021, is also growing, now accounting for 20 percent of sales.

Venturini emphasized that creativity, human capital and team work were at the center of his attention and main drivers of the company’s evolution. He underscored the value of relationships between the brand, its sales force and the customers, with Valentino’s couture values and attention to details trickling down to the whole company. “We are also creating a colleague-centric company, where everyone is a customer.”

He has been busy building a new C-suite, ranging from chief client and digital acquisition officer Enzo Quarenghi, who joined in January, to new chief human resources officer Rosa Santamaria Maurizio, for example.

He cited Alessio Vannetti, chief brand officer, who with his team has been creating strong bonds with customers through music, cinema and other activities outside fashion, “assimilated to the entertainment world.” He cited the Chez Maison Valentino immersive digital experience in the historical headquarters that illustrates a 2D facade of Palazzo Mignanelli, designed by illustrator Joana Avillez, where clients can click on each window to discover content about the brand’s heritage, for example.

“We filled the lack of physical relationships that resulted in a general increase of time spent, up 55 percent and engagement compared to the average of the site,” he observed.

With Marco Giacometti, chief commercial officer, Venturini is “re-energizing the store network changing the role of our client advisers who are becoming real brand ambassadors capable in creating unique and deep connections with our clients.”

Venturini also approached the subject of sustainability, which “is not a marketing tool, but a reality,” he said.

Valentino back in 2013 joined the Greenpeace Detox Solution Commitment in a mission to eliminate all dangerous chemicals from its supply chain and signed onto Zero Deforestation Commitment projects to help protect life-giving waterways and rainforests.  “As a result of our commitment with Greenpeace we have reduced by approximately 63 percent the chemical substances in our production,” the CEO said.

As reported, Valentino has committed to going fur-free starting from 2022 and alpaca-free starting with the spring 2022 season. It is also working with environmentally friendly viscose suppliers for 70 percent of its production.

A new shoe made with recycled elements, the Open for a Change sneaker for men and women, will be available starting from December. “Lastly, we are ready to deliver a new product packaging set to launch this fall which will be sustainable for at least 55 percent,” he said.