Versace and McQueen bosses among tips for Burberry top job

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 30, 2021

Widespread speculation about who might take over from outgoing Marco Gobbetti at Burberry has offered up the names Jonathan Akeroyd, Emmanuel Gintzburger and Alessandro Bogliolo. The trio of top executives are said to be among a list of other major names.

Akeroyd has run Versace for five years and was in charge when it was bought for €1.4 billion by Michael Kors (now Capri Holdings).

Moira Benigson of recruitment specialist MBS Group told The Times that given that Burberry has an Italian designer, Akeroyd could be a good choice to run the UK's largest listed luxury brand as it should “lean on” its British heritage.

But with Capri Holdings having ambitions to tun Versace into a $2 billion brand, it’s likely to be keen to do whatever it takes to retain Akeroyd so it’s unclear how interested he might be in taking on Burberry.

He’d earlier run Alexander McQueen and his successor there, Emmanuel Gintzburger, is another name on the list of ‘hot prospects’, the newspaper said. The exec had previously been with Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton and Sephora so certainly has the experience. Importantly, he’s also overseeing a strategy of leathergoods expansion such as that being seen at Burberry. But again, it’s likely Kering would want to keep him on board and would take steps to encourage him to stay.

Meanwhile, Alessandro Bogliolo, who left his role in charge of Tiffany this year after it was taken over by LVMH, is also in the frame, reports have suggested. Although most of his experience has been with jewellery brands (prior to Tiffany, he was CEO at Bulgari for 16 years), he also spent several years in charge of Diesel.

But with the news of Marco Gobbetti’s departure having clearly come as a shock to Burberry itself (as well as to the wider industry), there’s no slick succession plan in place and finding the new CEO could take some time. Gobbetti isn’t due to leave until year-end so it’s unlikely that we’ll hear definite news any time soon.