(Reuters) -French wines and spirits company Remy Cointreau announced on Wednesday that Franck Marilly will replace CEO Eric Vallat who resigned earlier this year.
Marilly will take up his new role on June 25, after a transition period working with Vallat.
WHO IS HE?
Marilly, 59, is from France and has more than 30 years of experience working in luxury and cosmetics groups. He is a graduate of the EDC Paris Business School.
Having lived and worked internationally, he said in a press release he has a deep attachment to the land in south-west France, where he is from and where the Cognac region is located.
CAREER
Marilly started his career in the luxury industry as a general manager for a division of the fragrance group Chanel in 1991.
He worked for consumer goods giant Unilever between 1994 and 2001, first as managing director of the cosmetics export division then managing cosmetics for Spain and Portugal followed by France and Belgium.
Marilly came back to Chanel to be managing director of the Italian and then French market before being promoted to senior vice president of U.S. fashion. In 2010, he returned to Europe to become the continent’s managing director for Chanel’s fragrance and beauty until 2017.
Before joining Remy Cointreau, he was working for Japan’s Shiseido as President and CEO and Chairman of the EMEA and global fragrance division.
In February, he was also appointed as Foreign Trade Adviser of France.
WHAT’S THE PLAN?
Marilly will have to lead the French cognac maker through a period of sales decline and tariff threats in its key U.S. and Chinese markets.
“We are convinced that he will bring a new dynamic and will be able to confidently address the new challenges of the Group’s growth in a complex macroeconomic and geopolitical context,” Chairwoman of the Board of Directors Marie-Amélie de Leusse said in a press release.
Remy makes some 70% of its sales from cognac, mostly in the U.S. and China, but right now, drinkers in those nations are not buying the brandy and sales have fallen.
(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario in Gdansk;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
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