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David Yurman names new CEO
Longtime board member Gabriella Forte will head the company, taking over for David Yurman, who has been serving as an interim CEO since February 2014.
New York--Gabriella Forte, who is on the board of David Yurman Inc., has been named its new CEO, a spokeswoman for the company confirmed to National Jeweler Friday morning.
Described by Women’s Wear Daily as a “hard-driving executive,” Forte has worked in marketing, distribution and licensing at other luxury brands named after the men who founded them that have grown to be known around the world--Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani.
Most recently she worked as a consultant for Dolce & Gabbana, was general manager of their beauty division and, prior to that, was the Italian brand’s president and the licensing director for Dolce & Gabbana USA.
Yurman told WWD that, “We have long wanted Gabriella in this role.”
David Yurman, who started his eponymous company in 1980, has been serving of CEO of the watch and jewelry brand since February 2014, when Glen Senk left after less than two years in the position to pursue other interests.
While the company remains privately held, its future has been the matter of debate in the jewelry industry in recent years, especially as other large retailers and well-known brands have gone through acquisitions and mergers.
That debate is almost certain to surface again the wake of this latest hire.
When the company hired Senk and made a number of other executive changes back in 2012, rumors swirled that David Yurman, reported to do volume of around $500 million, was positioning itself to go public, rumors on which the company did not comment.
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