Roberto Vedovotto (born 30 September 1965) is an Italian businessman, twice the CEO of the

Safilo Group Safilo Group S.p.A. (acronym of ''Società Azionaria Fabbrica Italiana Lavorazione Occhiali'') is an Italian company that designs, produces and distributes prescription frames, sunglasses, sports eyewear, ski goggles and helmets, and cycling helm ...

from 2002 to 2006, and from 2009 to 2013. He has been the President and CEO of

Kering Kering () is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent. The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1963, b ...

Eyewear since 2014, and a member of Kering's executive committee since 2015.

Biography

Roberto Vedovotto was born and grew up in

Bassano del Grappa Bassano del Grappa ( vec, Basan or ''Bassan'', ) is a city and ''comune'', in the Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo ...

, in Northern Italy. His father managed a small company. He holds a bachelor degree in economy from the

Bocconi University Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and computer sci ...

(1989) and a master's degree in business administration from the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...

(1994). After his bachelor's degree, Vedovotto worked for over ten years as a managing director at

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

Asset Management. In 1999, he led Morgan Stanley's first foray into the Italian pension fund market. In March 2002, Vedovotto was appointed CEO of the eyewear manufacturing company

Safilo Safilo Group S.p.A. (acronym of ''Società Azionaria Fabbrica Italiana Lavorazione Occhiali'') is an Italian company that designs, produces and distributes prescription frames, sunglasses, sports eyewear, ski goggles and helmets, and cycling helm ...

. He restructured the company, fixed its Euro 1.2 billion debt, and listed it back on the

Milan stock exchange Borsa Italiana, based in Milan, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervising disclosures for listed companies.italy24.ils ...

(delisted by Safilo's chairman Vittorio Tabacchi in 2001) in 2005. In November 2006, he left Safilo to become the managing director and chairman of European luxury goods at

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...

. However, as Safilo was having troubles weathering the 2008 financial crisis, Vittorio Tabacchi asked Vedovotto to take back the direction of the eyewear company in November 2008. In October 2013, he stepped down as CEO of Safilo, but remained on the board of the company as a non-executive director. In November 2013, Vedovotto joined

to pilot the development of the luxury group's eyewear division. He launched Kering Eyewear in 2014 with the aim to jettison the license-based model by producing eyewear internally and relying on a network of manufacturing partner. In March 2015, Roberto Vedovotto became a member of Kering's executive committee. Vedovotto led Kering Eyewear's acquisition of

Lindberg Lindberg is a municipality in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany in the immediate neighbourhood of the larger town Zwiesel. Location Lindberg lies in the Danube Forest (''Donau-Wald'') region in the middle of the Bavarian Forest on ...

in 2021 and

Maui Jim Maui Jim is an American sunglasses manufacturer based in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in Lahaina, Hawaii, in 1980, the company designs, develops, and manufactures a wide variety of sunglasses marketed under the eponymous brand name. As of 2015, it ...

in 2022. Vedovotto is on the advisory boards of Bocconi University and the London Business School.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vedovotto, Roberto Living people 1965 births People from Bassano del Grappa Bocconi University alumni Alumni of London Business School 21st-century Italian businesspeople Italian chief executives Kering people