Pronovias names Marc Calabia Gibert new CEO among other exec appointments

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
May 30, 2023

Spanish bridalwear company Pronovias announced on Monday that Marc Calabia Gibert has been appointed to the role of CEO, effective September 1.

A fashion and retail veteran, Calabia Gibert has more than 25 years leadership experience and joins Pronovias from Tendam-owned Springfield, where he became managing director in 2018. Prior to that, he was chief product and merchandising officer at Desigual, vice-chairman of sales for southern Europe at Levi Strauss and managing director at The Body Shop, now owned by Natura & Co.

The executive replaces current CEO Amandine Ohayon, who has decided to take a new career path.

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Clement Kwan, who has been an advisor to Pronovias since October, and has worked with Ohayon on the transition, will become interim CEO effective immediately, and will remain as a strategic advisor after Calabia Gibert arrives, along with other advisors and board members. This includes Fabrizio Cardinali, CEO of Etro and previously global GM at Dolce and Gabbana; Alberto Grignolo, general manager of Yoox and COO of Yoox Net-a-Porter Group (YNAP) for 18 years, and Pronovias chairman Gianni Serazzi. 

“Marc is a fantastic appointment as CEO of Pronovias. His very strong leadership capabilities and expertise in the fashion industry gives us confidence that he is the best person to lead the company into this new era,” said Sandro Patti, partner at Bain Capital, which took a majority stake in the Barcelona-based firm in December 2022.

“Pronovias is a market-leading group with a strong future, which we are excited to support going forward. We look forward to working with Marc and his leadership team as he focuses on further growing the Pronovias Group on a global basis. We would also like to thank Amandine for her work.”

The Pronovias team also revealed the appointments of Maria Muntaner as chief marketing officer and Gemma Ruiz as chief product and merchandising officer, from July 1. Muntaner joins from Thinking Mu, where she was brand and marketing director. She is a co-founder and board member of several companies and worked
as brand and client director at Desigual. 

Ruiz has worked for Alshaya Group as buying and merchandising director and Bestseller Group China as buying and product director.

Having started her career in Pronovias, she has since worked across sourcing, buying and product strategy within global companies such as Desigual and Massimo Dutti.

Founded in 1922, the Pronovias group owns the brands Pronovias, Nicole, Lady Bird, St Patrick, and White One, and has a distribution agreement with American brand Vera Wang.