Italian fashion group OTB has added two experienced executives to its
board of directors. The board’s composition has been renewed after the AGM held on April 30, which approved the financial statement for the 2020 financial year, in which OTB recorded a revenue of €1.31 billion.
Three previous board members, Renzo Rosso, his son Stefano Rosso and group CEO Ubaldo Minelli, have been confirmed in their posts, and two new independent members have been appointed. They are Arabella Ferrari and Carlo Purassanta, who replace two departing members.
Ferrari has a 25-year-plus experience in the beauty sector. She is currently senior vice-president of the make-up business unit and corporate marketing director at Intercos, a leading third-party producer for some of the top names in the cosmetics industry. Ferrari joined Intercos in 1994, and has held various executive positions within the company, notably in the USA, Asia and France. She formerly worked at Estée Lauder, where she began her business career in 1989, first in Italy then in New York, in charge of product development.
Purassanta was named president of Microsoft France in 2017. Before then, he had been the CEO of Microsoft Italy since 2013, and was a key stakeholder in the Italian digital sector, holding senior positions within Confindustria Digitale (the industry association of Italian and Italy-based digital companies), the US chamber of commerce in Italy and the graduate school of business at Milan’s Politecnico University. Before joining Microsoft in 2011, Purassanta had worked at IBM in Europe for 15 years.
In other words, OTB has added two top-notch names to its board. The group recently acquired Jil Sander and wants to become a genuine luxury player, with a portfolio that includes Diesel, Maison Margiela, Marni and Viktor & Rolf, as well as childrenswear specialist Brave Kid and Staff International, the company that produces and distributes, besides Marni and Margiela, licensed labels like Dsquared2, Just Cavalli and Koché. In 2019, OTB also acquired a minority stake in Californian luxury denim label Amiri.
“I’m happy to welcome Arabella Ferrari and Carlo Purassanta, two individuals I personally chose for our board. Arabella is one of the most respected global entrepreneurs in the beauty world, a sector very close to the luxury industry, and has significant international experience. While Carlo, who has already given a significant contribution to Diesel’s digital push, will bring his experience to bear in the digital transformation of the whole group,” said Renzo Rosso in a press release. Rosso has recently been chosen by Italian industrialists’ association Confindustria to spearhead the promotion of “the excellence, beauty and good taste of Italian brands worldwide.”