Internal promotion places legal, compliance, control, audit and security under a single executive mandate, strengthening Kering’s governance architecture

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Kering has appointed Sophie Maddaloni as General Secretary of the Group, effective immediately, giving the long-serving executive a central role in governance, risk oversight and corporate protection at a pivotal stage of the French luxury group’s transformation.

Based in Paris, Maddaloni joins Kering’s Executive Committee and reports to Jean-Marc Duplaix, Group Chief Operating Officer. Her remit covers Legal, Internal Control, Internal Audit and Security, with the new General Secretary working closely with executive management and the Board of Directors.

The appointment is significant not simply because it fills a senior corporate position, but because it brings a specialist in taxation, compliance and organisational transformation into one of the most important control points of a global luxury group. Kering employed 44,000 people and generated €14.7 billion in revenue in 2025, according to the company.

From tax leadership to group governance: Maddaloni brings almost three decades of international corporate experience to the role. She began her career at Elf Aquitaine in 1991, spending more than 10 years in international tax positions. She subsequently joined Alstom T&D in 2002 as Vice President, Tax, followed by Technip in 2004, where she headed tax and legal-entity functions.

Her Kering career began in 2017 as Group Tax Director. The company says that she led the transformation of the tax function and contributed to strengthening its compliance and risk-management framework. Her academic background combines business law and international business law and taxation, with degrees from Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas and HEC Paris–Université de Sceaux.

That progression gives the appointment a clear internal-continuity dimension. Maddaloni already knows Kering’s structures, financial and regulatory environment and risk framework, reducing the transition requirements associated with bringing an outsider into a role that sits across multiple sensitive functions.

A governance appointment at a strategic moment: The timing is particularly relevant. Under CEO Luca de Meo, Kering has been restructuring its operating model and governance. De Meo became CEO on September 15, 2025, following a reorganisation that separated the chairman and CEO roles and simplified the group’s executive structure. Kering’s 2025 Universal Registration Document described the changes as intended to increase organisational clarity, managerial responsiveness and oversight of strategy.

In April 2026, Kering presented its ReconKering strategic plan, focused on sharper brand identities, stronger operational execution, greater use of group-level capabilities and renewed growth. The group subsequently reported first-half 2026 revenue of €7.22 billion, up 1% on a comparable basis, with recurring operating income of €921 million, equivalent to a 12.8% operating margin. Kering also reported net financial debt of €3.3 billion, down €4.7 billion from the end of 2025.

Against that backdrop, Maddaloni’s remit places governance and control mechanisms directly within the architecture supporting execution of the new strategy.

For a group operating across fashion, leather goods, jewellery, eyewear and beauty, the responsibilities are broad. Legal and compliance decisions increasingly intersect with international regulation, intellectual property, supply-chain obligations, cybersecurity, data, tax, sustainability reporting, brand reputation and cross-border transactions. A General Secretary with a long background in these areas can therefore function as a coordination point between operational ambition and control requirements.

Continuity after Mélanie Flouquet: The appointment also follows the departure of Mélanie Flouquet, who had held the General Secretary position and previously served as Kering’s Chief Strategy Officer. Flouquet left Kering for Morgan Stanley, where she was appointed Managing Director and Global Head of Luxury Goods in a newly created investment-banking role. Before Kering, she had spent more than two decades at J.P. Morgan in luxury equity research.

The transition is notable because Flouquet’s previous remit included strategy, governance, legal and risk management. Maddaloni’s background is different: it is more deeply rooted in tax, legal affairs, compliance and corporate controls. The change therefore appears to preserve the governance function while placing greater emphasis on specialist control expertise. That is an interpretation of the differing backgrounds, rather than a stated Kering objective.

What the appointment could mean for Kering: Maddaloni’s seat on the Executive Committee means governance considerations are positioned closer to strategic and operational decision-making rather than functioning solely as a back-office control layer. Her previous work at Kering was directly linked by the company to compliance and risk-management strengthening. Her expanded remit extends that experience across internal control, audit, security and legal affairs. Kering is simultaneously reshaping its portfolio operations, leadership teams and group platforms. An internal executive with nine years of Kering experience brings institutional knowledge at a time when implementation speed and coordination matter. Maddaloni’s career began in international taxation before moving into broader legal and organisational responsibilities. That profile is relevant to a luxury group managing multiple jurisdictions, brands and operating entities.

Kering has made several senior appointments during 2026, including at Bottega Veneta, Kering Jewelry and Kering Italia, while simultaneously implementing ReconKering. The Maddaloni appointment adds another piece to that organisational restructuring, but in a different category: it concerns the machinery that governs and controls the entire group rather than a single Maison. The appointment represents a move toward embedding governance expertise deeper inside the executive structure at the same time as the group enters a new phase of strategic and operational transformation.