Marco Bizzarri (born 19 August 1962) is an Italian business executive, President and CEO of

Gucci Gucci (, ; ) is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and branding to Coty, Inc. for fragran ...

since January 2015.Gucci hires Marco Bizzarri as new brand head, creative director Frida Giannini quits
''Straitstimes.com'', 12 December 2014 He previously was the President and CEO of

Stella McCartney Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is a daughter of British singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and the late American photographer and animals rights activist Linda McCartney. Like her parents, McCa ...

(2005–2009) and Bottega Veneta (2009–2014), and joined

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, by ...

’s Executive Committee in 2012.

Biography

Early career

Marco Bizzarri started his career as a consultant for the financial advisory firm Accenture in 1986. In 1993, he joined the

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

-based Mandarina Duck group, and later became CEO of the group. In 2004, he became general manager of the designer brand Marithé et François Girbaud.Marco Bizzarri
''Lesechos.fr'', 24 November 2004
Stella McCartney nomina Marco Bizzarri nuovo ad
''Pambianconews.com''

CEO of Kering’s brands

Under his management, the company turned a profit for the first time in 2007. He developed a lifestyle-oriented brand and drove its international development, including the opening of a store in Japan in 2008. In January 2009, Marco Bizzarri became the President and CEO of Bottega Veneta. Amid a global economic downturn, he rapidly changed the distribution of the brand to reposition it in Europe, and worked on a less conservative buying, thus relieving financial stress and enabling new investments. In 4 years, alongside the creative director

Tomas Maier Tomas Maier (born 1957) is a German-born designer. From 2001 to 2018, he served as Creative Director at the Italian brand Bottega Veneta.Pascale Denis (June 13, 2018)Bottega Veneta creative director Maier standing down''Reuters''. Early life and ...

, Marco Bizzarri maintained Bottega Veneta’s edge for Italian-made leather craftsmanship, drove growth in Asia, opened a flagship store in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, and new eco-friendly headquarters in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

. In 2012, Bottega Veneta’s sales reached the $1 billion mark. In 2012, Marco Bizzarri became a member of the Executive Committee of

. In April 2014, Marco Bizzarri was named CEO of Kering’s newly-created Couture and Leather Goods division, directly supervising most of Kering’s luxury brands.

President and CEO of Gucci

In December 2014, Kering named Marco Bizzarri President and CEO of its flagship luxury brand

. His first move was to name a 12-year Gucci member of the creative team,

Alessandro Michele Alessandro Michele (; born 25 November 1972) is an Italian fashion designer who most recently served as the creative director of Gucci, the Italian fashion luxury house where he had been working since 2002. Known for his maximalist designs, Aless ...

, creative director of the brand, who successfully managed to renew the brand’s popularity with a «

geek chic The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In the past, it had a generall ...

» props. Marco Bizzarri stopped the brand's markdown policy, favored cross-gendered collections and unified fashion shows and banned the use of fur by the brand. Gucci also amplified its digital strategy to grow its customer-base on social networks. Marco Bizzarri opened the Gucci Hub in September 2016 (Gucci headquarters and creative hub in Milan), the ArtLab in April 2018 (Gucci's 37,000-square-metre creative hub in Casellina near Florence, Italy), and Gucci 9 in April 2019 (Gucci's 500-employee network of 6 call centers worldwide for high-end customer service). In January 2018, he inaugurated the renovated Gucci Museum (in the Palazzo della Mercanzia in Florence) renamed Gucci Garden, and the launch of a new restaurant, the ''Gucci Osteria da

Massimo Bottura Massimo Bottura (; born 30 September 1962) is an Italian restaurateur and the chef patron of Osteria Francescana, a three-Michelin-star restaurant based in Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label= Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is ...

''. In 2019, Marco Bizzarri announced that Gucci was

carbon-neutral Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...

in its own operations and across its supply chain since 2018, thanks to drastic reductions of its

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...

. He also announced that the firm was changing its production strategy, partnering with the UN-led forest conservation program REDD+ to reduce its carbon footprint, and launched the CEO Carbon Neutral Challenge Initiative to encourage other firm executives to follow suit. Under Marco Bizzarri's tenure, Gucci's annual sales grew from 3.9 billion euros in 2015 to 9.6 billion euros in 2019.

Awards

*2020: GQ Italy's Best dressed man *2018, 2017, 2016: International Business Leader at the Fashion Awards *2017: Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

(France) *2017: WWD Edward Nardoza Honor for CEO Creative Leadership *2017 : Most Creative People in Business by

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...

*2015: Humanitarian of the Year award by the

United Nations Association A United Nations Association (UNA) is a non-governmental organization that exist in various countries to enhance the relationship between the people of member states and the United Nations to raise public awareness of the UN and its work, to promot ...

Leigh Nordstrom
Gucci’s Marco Bizzarri Honored at the United Nations Humanitarian Dinner
''Wwd.com'', 23 October 2015

References

External links

Official biographyBiography on BOF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bizzarri, Marco 1962 births Living people Italian businesspeople in fashion Kering people