Richemont, a company founded in 1988 by Johann Rupert (pictured) and his father Anton, has announced that 64-year-old Richard Lepeu, its CEO, and 56-year-old Gary Saage, its CFO, will retire in 2017.
Burkhart Grund, deputy CFO, will replace Saage as finance head. The news comes as the company overhauls its management structure extensively, in the midst of declining product sales.
- The first CFO of Richemont was Leon Crouse, who won a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's CFO Awards.
- Leon Crouse, Remgro CFO, retires.
In addition to the aforementioned retirements, eight directors will step down and new managers will lead watchmaking and operations. Georges Kern, who leads the IWC brand, will become head of watchmaking, marketing and digital. Jerome Lambert, Montblanc CEO, will become head of operations. Various board members, including former CEO Norbert Platt, will also retire. Johann Rupert will remain executive chairman.
Johann Rupert has said:
"One individual cannot be held responsible, it's unfair. We will never have a similar CEO again. Now it's time for us to start looking at another generation."
Rupert, despite being a university dropout, is South Africa's richest man, boasting a reported net worth of $6.5 billion (Bloomberg Billionaires Index).
