Salvatore Ferragamo: Leonardo Ferragamo succeeds brother Ferruccio as president

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Apr 2, 2021

The top managerial positions at Salvatore Ferragamo have remained unchanged, except for the role of president. The Italian luxury label has confirmed Micaela Le Divelec Lemmi and Michele Norsa in their respective roles as CEO and executive vice-president. Ferruccio Ferragamo has instead relinquished the non-executive president role to his brother Leonardo.

The list of names filed by Ferragamo Finanziaria - the holding company that owns a 54.28% stake in the Florentine label - for the renewal of the group’s board of directors, has confirmed the intention of maintaining a degree of continuity within the top management, quashing for the time-being rumours of a more radical reshuffle. The board will be formally renewed on April 22, and will stay in office until the end of 2023.

Ferruccio, 75, the eldest son of founder Salvatore Ferragamo, joined the family group in 1963 and was appointed president in 2006, after leading the company for over 20 years. He stepped down from an executive role in 2020, when manager Michele Norsa returned to the group, in the midst of the pandemic. Ferruccio remains president of Ferragamo Finanziaria.

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His brother Leonardo, 67, succeeds him at the label. Leonardo joined the group in 1973, working in the leather production division. In 1976, he launched the men’s footwear business, and in 1981 the menswear division. He then took on several executive roles within the group, overseeing in particular Salvatore Ferragamo’s international expansion.

The new board, with ten members instead of the previous 13, notably includes two other members of the Ferragamo family. The first is the son of Ferruccio Ferragamo, Giacomo, known as James, currently in charge of the men’s and women’s footwear and leather goods division, who returns to the board having dropped out last year. The second is Angelica Visconti, daughter of Ferruccio and Leonardo’s sister Fulvia Ferragamo, who passed away in 2018. Visconti is in charge of the wholesale and travel retail channels worldwide.
 
Salvatore Ferragamo was hit especially hard by the Covid-19 crisis, recording a net loss of €72 million in 2020. After two tough years in 2017 and 2018, the group had begun to recover in 2019, but the pandemic severely curtailed its revenue, which in 2020 reached €916 million, equivalent to a 33.5% downturn. For some years, Salvatore Ferragamo has been the subject of speculation regarding its potential sale.