Ginger Finds has found a new president in Grégoire Martin, who’s stepping in to help the executive search firm build on its high-touch, relationship-heavy business model.
The fresh set of eyes might well be coming in at just the right time as Ginger Puglia, chief executive officer and cofounder, said the luxury industry is only going to continue to change.
While there were more than 15 creative debuts during the fashion shows this fall — from Demna at Gucci to Matthieu Blazy at Chanel — Puglia and Martin said in an interview that the change is still being supercharged.
That includes transformations not just in the design studio, but at the tippy-top of fashion companies as well.
Puglia pointed to Luca de Meo, the former Renault Group chief who has hit the ground running as CEO of Kering, pushing back the potential acquisition of Valentino and agreeing to sell off the beauty business to L’Oréal for 4 billion euro.
De Meo, she said, “is a good example of somebody who’s different. He made a couple of changes really, really quickly. And I think bringing in somebody who hasn’t been there and isn’t cemented in what they’ve been doing. So somebody who looks at the world very, very differently. Somebody who’s very analytical, very, very curious. And I think that’s what most companies are looking for. They don’t want the same old thing. They don’t want somebody who’s gone up that normal ladder in business.”
Ginger Puglia
Laurie Frankel
Much of Puglia’s work relies on her feel for people after years of working in and recruiting for fashion.
With Martin, she said she’s made the right connection.
“The minute I met him, I thought, ‘This is it,’” she said. “Now I’m set. This is what I’ve been looking for. Somebody who’s all about trust and emotion and gets people, and it was instant.”
Puglia hired Martin the day she met him and is looking for his experience and network to help the search firm expand its global reach.
Trained in hospitality, Martin worked at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in Asia and then spent time at search firm Spencer Stuart.
He too is looking to ply the search trade with a good deal of emotional intelligence.
“We’re going to take people that have backgrounds that combine different attributes — and that will lead to a global package,” Martin said. “Empathy is a big one. Empathy, the ability to understand your customers and focus on your clients and your client’s experience is going to become critical. We’re going to focus more and more on the client experience and on the product experience. And we’re going to need leaders that understand that and are authentic.”
That need to empathize flows from broader changes in the market.
“In today’s world, it has never been easier to sell a product,” Martin said. “Just set up a shop on Shopify. But having a relationship with your consumer, knowing him or her, the way they shop, how they like to how be treated, this is going to be the only thing that’s going to differentiate businesses — the human touch.”
