John Hardy has appointed Jan-Patrick Schmitz, the former head of Montblanc North America, as president and CEO—its fourth this year.
Schmitz most recently was CEO of Muirbury & Co., an independent firm that builds premium brands. Prior to that, he served as global CEO and chairman of the management board of the Wusthof Group, the German knife manufacturer. At the start of his career, he spent nearly 20 years at Richemont, where he was CEO of Montblanc North America and president and CEO of Montblanc Japan.
He replaces Audrey Finci, who has served as interim president and CEO since March, according to LinkedIn. Frédéric Lévy was appointed John Hardy’s president and CEO in January, taking over from Kareem Gahed, its head since 2019.
Finci will remain a company adviser and member of John Hardy’s board of directors. “As Patrick gets settled, I’m committed to ensuring a seamless transition,” she said in a statement.
Reed Krakoff, the former chief artistic officer of Tiffany & Co. and president of Coach, has been John Hardy’s creative chairman—as well as minority equity stakeholder in the brand—since September 2021. In a company statement, he said he “look[ed] forward to guiding John Hardy together” with Schmitz.
John Hardy is owned by L Catterton, which combined the North American operations of private equity firm Catterton with Groupe Arnault, the family holding company of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault. Catterton bought John Hardy in 2014.
L Catterton reportedly put the company up for sale last year.
(Photo via LinkedIn)
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