Richemont Makes Changes to Senior Executive Committee as Fragrance Boss Exits

Samantha Conti

14 February 2025 at 3:26 am·3-min read

LONDON — Richemont is reorganizing its senior executive committee and has announced the departure of Boet Brinkgreve, who was appointed in 2023 to head the luxury group’s fledgling beauty and fragrance division.

Richemont said Catherine Rénier and Louis Ferla, chief executive officers of Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier, respectively, would be joining the senior executive committee. Marie-Aude Stocker, chief people officer of Richemont, will also join the committee.

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Jérôme Lambert, Richemont’s former CEO, will be stepping down from the committee and from the board of directors following his appointment as CEO of the specialist watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Nicolas Bos, CEO of Richemont, said: “Catherine’s and Louis’ combined industry and group experience, together with their operational knowledge and expertise as CEOs of our largest maisons, will be a great asset to our senior executive committee.”

He added: “I want to take this opportunity to wish Jérôme all the best in his new role, and to thank him again for his support in recent months.”

Stocker was formerly director of people, development and prospective at Van Cleef & Arpels, and was recently appointed chief people officer, reporting to Bos.

A French national and graduate of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris business school, with a certification from the Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale, Stocker brings 35 years of beauty and luxury industry experience to the role.

She has been with Richemont for 24 years.

Bos said that having a dedicated chief people officer “will help ensure that our growing and fast-evolving HR strategic resource management needs are effectively fulfilled. Marie-Aude is ideally placed to take on this mission, as she brings a wealth of highly relevant experience gained in the course of her career.”

Brinkgreve, CEO of Richemont’s Laboratoire de Haute Parfumerie et Beauté, will leave the company at the end of April after less than two years in the job.

Richemont did not comment on the reason for his departure, but it is understood his role became more about fragrance distribution and coordination among the houses than management of a division.

Inside the Renovated Cartier 5th Avenue Mansion — Inside the renovated Cartier Fifth Avenue mansion where the brand’s fragrances are on offer.

The Richemont brands will continue to operate separately, and the fragrance licenses, which are mainly held by Interparfums SA, remain in place.

Announced in 2023, Laboratoire de Haute Parfumerie et Beauté was conceived as a platform to help scale Richemont’s fragrance brands. Brinkgreve became a member of the senior executive committee and reported to Richemont’s chairman Johann Rupert.

According to Richemont, the platform wanted to “leverage resources across the maisons to help develop the most refined creations and promising licenses.”

At the time, Rupert said: “Boet’s role will be instrumental in enabling our maisons to reach their full potential in this dynamic market, broadening their clientele base whilst enhancing the maisons’ capabilities to meet the needs of their highly discerning clientele.”

Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chloé, Dunhill, Alaïa and Montblanc all have well-established fragrance businesses. The brands’ licensing partners including Interparfums SA, while Cartier is developed by an in-house perfumer.

Interparfums SA has renewed its fragrance license with Van Cleef & Arpels for another nine years. — Interparfums SA renewed has a longstanding fragrance license with Van Cleef & Arpels.

At the time of Brinkgreve’s appointment, an industry source told WWD that the formation of Laboratoire de Haute Parfumerie et Beauté was not an attempt to take Richemont’s fragrances in house, but rather to offer “strategic guidance” to the brands about how to build their businesses and become more sustainable.

Brinkgreve, a Dutch-born Swiss national, joined Richemont from Dsm-Firmenich, where he held a number of senior executive positions from 2007 until 2023. His last role there was president of Ingredients & Group Procurement and a member of the executive committee.

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