Former Brioni CEO Flore joins Burberry to head up Americas

Gianluca Flore, the former CEO of Kering-owned menswear brand Brioni, has joined Burberry as president Americas replacing Donald Kohler, who has accepted a new opportunity and will be leaving the business.

Flore joins the British luxury house after more than a decade at Kering where prior to Brioni, he worked at Bottega Veneta, first as president Americas and later as worldwide retail and wholesale director and CEO of Asia Pacific. He has also worked at Fendi and La Perla as head of Americas.

He left Brioni in February of this year not long after the departure of its short-lived creative director Justin O'Shea. O'Shea had joined Brioni in 2014 from luxury etailer Mytheresa.com and left in October 2016 having shown only one collection for the house.

Flore will take up his new role at Burberry on 5 July, the same day that incoming CEO, Marco Gobbetti, who has joined the company from Céline, starts his new post. Flore will report to Gobbetti, who has been with Burberry since the start of the year and has been overseeing its APAC business before taking over the CEO reins from Christopher Bailey. Bailey will assume the position of president and chief creative officer on that date.

"I am delighted to announce the appointment of Gianluca Flore as President Americas. Gianluca has extensive luxury experience and his knowledge of the US market will be invaluable as we seek to develop this key region. I would like to thank Donald Kohler for the significant contribution he has made to Burberry and wish him every success in the future," said Bailey.

The news comes in the same week that it was revealed the Burberry's long-standing chairman Sir John Peace will stand down and a replacement is currently being sought. He is expected to leave by the end of 2018.

It also made changes to its non-executive team with Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch stepping up to the role of senior independent director, replacing Philip Bowman who has stood down. In addition former Saks president and Bergdorf Goodman CEO Ron Frasch has joined as non-executive director.