Marco Bizzarri

Marco Bizzarri started his career as a consultant for the financial advisory firm Accenture in 1986. In 1993, he joined the Bologna-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.[2][3]

In 2005, Marco Bizzarri was named President and CEO of Stella McCartney.[2][3] Under his management, the company turned a profit for the first time in 2007.[4] He developed a lifestyle-oriented brand and drove its international development, including the opening of a store in Japan in 2008.[5]

In January 2009, Marco Bizzarri became the President and CEO of Bottega Veneta.[6] 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.[7] In 4 years, alongside the creative director Tomas Maier, Marco Bizzarri maintained Bottega Veneta’s edge for Italian-made leather craftsmanship,[8] drove growth in Asia,[9] opened a flagship store in Milan,[10] and new eco-friendly headquarters in Vicenza.[11] In 2012, Bottega Veneta’s sales reached the $1 billion mark.[12]

In 2012, Marco Bizzarri became a member of the Executive Committee of Kering.[13] 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.[14][15]

In December 2014, Kering named Marco Bizzarri President and CEO of its flagship luxury brand Gucci.[1] His first move was to name a 12-year Gucci member of the creative team, Alessandro Michele, creative director of the brand,[16] who successfully managed to renew the brand’s popularity with a «geek chic» props.[17] Marco Bizzarri stopped the brand's markdown policy,[18] favored cross-gendered collections and unified fashion shows[19] and banned the use of fur by the brand.[20] Gucci also amplified its digital strategy to grow its customer-base on social networks.[21]

Marco Bizzarri opened the Gucci Hub in September 2016 (Gucci headquarters and creative hub in Milan),[22] the ArtLab in April 2018 (Gucci's 37,000-square-metre creative hub in Casellina near Florence, Italy),[23] and Gucci 9 in April 2019 (Gucci's 500-employee network of 6 call centers worldwide for high-end customer service).[24] 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.[25]

In 2019, Marco Bizzarri announced that Gucci was carbon-neutral in its own operations and across its supply chain since 2018, thanks to drastic reductions of its greenhouse gas emissions.[26] 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.[27]

Under Marco Bizzarri's tenure, Gucci's annual sales grew from 3.9 billion euros in 2015[28] to 9.6 billion euros in 2019.[29]