François-Henri Pinault, French retail executive. Named one of Top 200 Collectors, ARTnews magazine, 2004-2008, World's Richest People, Forbes Magazine, since 2007. The chairman, president and chief executive officer of Kering, a Paris-based international lifestyle, luxury and sports apparel group that owns Gucci, Yves St. Laurent and Bottega Veneta. His net worth is estimated at $13.5 billion as of December 2015.
Background
Pinault, François-Henri was born on May 28, 1962 in Rennes, France. Son of Francois and Mary (Campbell) Pinault. Pinault's father, Francois Pinault, founded the Pinault Group, a France-based timber trading company, in 1963. The group went public in 1988. In the 1990s, the company began expanding into retail and fashion, and became Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 1992. Francois-Henri Pinault began his career at Kering in 1987.
Education
François-Henri Pinault graduated from HEC School of Management in 1985. He also completed military service in the French Consulate Economic Expansion station in Los Angeles, during which he was in charge of studying fashion and new technology sectors.
Career
Pinault started his career at Kering in 1987 and in 1988 became manager of Kering's buying department.
In 1989, he was appointed a head manager of France Bois Industries, and then of Pinault Distribution in 1990.
In 1993 Pinault became the CEO of CFAO (Compagnie Française de l’Afrique Occidentale) a retail filial of the Group in Africa, specializing in cars and medicine.
In 1997 Francois-Henri Pinault was announced to be CEO of Fnac.
In February 2000, Pinault became vice-president of the internet branch of Fnac, and then a board president of Serge Weinberg. He launched PPR Interactive, a structure dedicated to new technologies.
From January 2001 until March 2005, he was a member of the Kering Security Board.
In May 2003, his father, Francois Pinault gave him the presidency of Artémis.
In March 2005 Pinault became Chairman of the Board and CEO of Kering.
On 20 June 2007, he also became president of German sports retailer Puma's Executive Committee.
On 17 February 2011, Pinault stated that he would run Kering's luxury branch.
In 2013, Pinault rebranded the group’s name from PPR to Kering, re-emphasising the group’s new direction and break from previous activities.
Achievements
Politics
He's not known to support any political party.
Views
François-Henri Pinault is an enthusiastic philanthropist. In 2011 Pinault put into practice a broad range of ecological and social initiatives, including environmental profit-and-loss statements and sustainable python farming.
He has a personal and professional passion for digital commerce and is a champion of social and environmental sustainability.
Quotations:
Quotations: “Our nation will come together with all those who know that democracy, and a peaceful and tolerant society, are the most precious values we share.”
“Let’s all work to end violence against women and create a condition for their success in a world where the fundamentals of democracy are protected and are advanced by our personal engagement in all we do.”
“I personally believe that companies have a role to play to build a more sustainable world – economically, socially and ecologically – than the world we know and live in today”
Membership
In 2009 Francois-Henri Pinault founded the Kering Foundation, which fights violence against women.Tthe foundation has helped more than 140,000 women, and there have been 47 partnerships with local and international nongovernmental organizations around the world to fight violence against women.
He is a Supervisory Board member of ELA (a European NGO campaigning for research in leukodystrophy).
He’s also Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur Member.
Personality
He tries to spend as much time as he can with his family at home in Paris and London. He says: “Trying to have a very strong family life is very important for me, and I must say my wife is a magician for that.”
Quotes from others about the person
Francos Pinault about his son:
"He doesn't have the arrogance of some heirs. He was never brought up to think of his inheritance as a right, but as something he had to conquer."
Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO said about Francois-Henri Pinault:
“Under’s stewardship, Kering has become a leading light in promoting gender equality, in campaigning for better education, health and justice for women, and in raising consciousness about one of the most prevalent but little talked about social issues of our time – violence against women.”
Interests
Collecting contemporary art.
Sport & Clubs
Francois-Henri Pinault owns the Stade Rennais, a French Ligue 1 football club. In his free time Pinault prefers playing tennis.
Connections
From 1996 to 2004 – Francois- Henri Pinault was married to Dorothée Lepère, they have two children together, a son François and daughter Mathilde.
From September 2005 to January 2006 – dated supermodel Linda Evangelista. They have a son Augustin James Evangelista.
In 2009 Pinault married Salma Hayek, an actress. Together they have a daughter, Valentina Paloma Pinault.
In April 2006, he was awarded with the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur.
Pinault was also awarded with the Green Carpet Challenge Leaders of Change Award from Livia Firth’s Eco-Age consultancy for having launched “the transformational and pioneering EP&L (Environmental profit and loss account) and open sourced it to encourage integration of the value of nature into business.”
He received the Anti-Defamation League’s International Leadership Award in New York for setting a standard in corporate responsibility in his efforts to raise awareness about discrimination against women and other minorities.
In April 2006, he was awarded with the Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur.
Pinault was also awarded with the Green Carpet Challenge Leaders of Change Award from Livia Firth’s Eco-Age consultancy for having launched “the transformational and pioneering EP&L (Environmental profit and loss account) and open sourced it to encourage integration of the value of nature into business.”
He received the Anti-Defamation League’s International Leadership Award in New York for setting a standard in corporate responsibility in his efforts to raise awareness about discrimination against women and other minorities.