Marco Gobbetti is to join Burberry earlier than expected at the end of this month but will initially take the role of executive chairman for Asia Pacific and the Middle East before stepping into the role of chief executive, for which he was recruited last year, on 4 July.
Gobbetti joins the British luxury house from LVMH-owned Céline and was appointed to the position of CEO at Burberry last July after Christopher Bailey had come under pressure from the city to relinquish one half of his joint role of chief executive and chief creative officer.
It had been anticipated that Gobbetti would join later this year and in his interim role he will report to Burberry chairman Sir John Peace. When Bailey relinquishes the CEO role he will become president and chief creative officer and he too will report to Peace.
No reason was given for Gobbetti’s early arrival and the company also confirmed that its new chief financial officer Julie Brown will join the business this Wednesday. She was previously at medical company Smith & Nephew.
Burberry is set to announce its third quarter figures this week with analysts expecting it to report a rise in sales of around 2% over the crucial Christmas trading period as the brand benefits from tourist shopping in the UK following the slump in the value of sterling after the Brexit vote in June.
