Daniel Lalonde

Lalonde remained in Paris after graduating from INSEAD, initially working at a management consultancy firm[3][4] and at Rothschilds.[4] He "made a name for himself"[2] as managing director of Häagen-Dazs Europe's retail-store division, where he quickly "developed a network of 130 stores in 12 countries, tripling the business." In the mid-1990s,[4] helped launch Nestle's Nespresso brand in North America,[3] serving as Nespresso North America's president and CEO.[5][8] He also spent five years[4] as Nespresso's global chief operating officer (COO)[3][5] while based in Switzerland. According to The New York Sun, Lalonde is credited with "[raising] annual sales from $25 million in five countries to $360 million in 30 countries," with Nespresso reaching "the no. 1 position in global sales for four straight years" during his tenure.[4]

In 2002, he was hired by LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy)[3][4][8] as president and CEO of LVMH Watches & Jewelry[2] in North America,[3][5][4] overseeing brands such as Christian Dior, Chaumet, Zenith, OMAS, and De Beers LV.[4] His first major task at LVMH was to improve lagging sales for the TAG Heuer watch brand;[2] Lalonde focused on "superaffluent" markets,[4] such as the golf community in North America,[2] and redesigned the company's customer service[4] and retail strategies.[2][4] He also recruited celebrities, such as Tiger Woods, Uma Thurman,[3][4] Maria Sharapova, and Brad Pitt to take part in watch campaigns photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, with Woods' recruitment as a brand ambassador reportedly leading to a 30% increase in sales. Under Lalonde, TAG Heuer's sales represented over "50% of the growth in the luxury watch market" in the United States in 2004 and, by 2005, TAG Heuer was rated as the No. 2 luxury watch brand.[4]

Lalonde served as president and CEO of Louis Vuitton North America[9][2][10][3] from 2006[9] to 2010,[9][2] then returned to France to become the global CEO for LVMH brands Moët and Dom Pérignon.[3] In 2010,[11] he became global CEO and president of Moët & Chandon[5][8][11][9] and, in July 2010, was named president and CEO of both Moët & Chandon and Dom Pérignon worldwide.[2]

After ten years at LVMH,[3][5] Lalonde became president of Ralph Lauren International[10][5] in January 2012,[8][9] in what was a newly created position.[12] He announced his departure from Ralph Lauren in December 2013.[9]

In May 2014,[10][13][14] he became the president[5] and chief executive officer of SMCP (Sandro - Maje - Claudie Pierlot),[8] an internationally expanding French luxury fashion company [15][6][16] in which he also became an investor.[3] During his first year of leading SMCP, Lalonde travelled extensively in Asia, the Middle East, the United States, and Europe,[17] with the company posting a 19.2 percent rise in sales for the first half of 2016.[15] Under Lalonde, SMCP became a publicly traded company on the Paris Stock Exchange in October 2017 with a valuation of US$2.5 billion at its IPO.[3] In June 2019, after having reported revenues of 1 billion euros for 2018; Lalonde announced that SMCP will acquire French menswear "Accessible Luxury" label De Fursac,[18] with international expansion planned for the brand.[19]

Lalonde serves on the board of INSEAD, his alma mater,[5] and has lectured at institutions such as Harvard Business School and Columbia University.[7]