Daniel Lalonde

Daniel Lalonde (born 1963)^[1] is a Canadian businessperson^[2] known for heading brands such as Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Nespresso^[3] and Moët & Chandon. After starting his management career with companies such as Häagen-Dazs and Nespresso,^[4] he spent ten years at LVMH as president and CEO of LVMH Watches & Jewelry North America, Louis Vuitton in North America, and Moët & Chandon globally.^[5][3][6] After two years as international president of Ralph Lauren, since 2014 he has served as CEO of the French fashion company SMCP.^[3]

Early life and education[]

Daniel Lalonde was born in 1963^[1] in Cornwall, Ontario.^[4] Lalonde's mother worked as a nurse, while his father was a teacher.^[1] Fluent in both English and French,^[7] Lalonde spent his youth in Cornwall^[4][3] and attended École secondaire catholique La Citadelle^[3] with aspirations to become a professional hockey player.^[4] He studied mathematics at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario,^[3][4] earning a Bachelor of Mathematics and graduating with honors.^[5] After working in Toronto for a consulting firm,^[3] he moved^[2] to France to study business administration at the INSEAD Business School.^[3] He graduated with a Master of Business Administration^[4] in 1991.^[5]

Career[]

Early consulting[]

Lalonde remained in Paris after graduating from INSEAD, initially working at a management consultancy firm^[3][4] and at Rothschilds.^[4] He "made a name for himself"^[2] as managing director of Häagen-Dazs Europe's retail-store division, where he quickly "developed a network of 130 stores in 12 countries, tripling the business." In the mid-1990s,^[4] helped launch Nestle's Nespresso brand in North America,^[3] serving as Nespresso North America's president and CEO.^[5][8] He also spent five years^[4] as Nespresso's global chief operating officer (COO)^[3][5] while based in Switzerland. According to The New York Sun, Lalonde is credited with "[raising] annual sales from $25 million in five countries to $360 million in 30 countries," with Nespresso reaching "the no. 1 position in global sales for four straight years" during his tenure.^[4]

LVMH[]

In 2002, he was hired by LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy)^[3][4][8] as president and CEO of LVMH Watches & Jewelry^[2] in North America,^[3][5][4] overseeing brands such as Christian Dior, Chaumet, Zenith, OMAS, and De Beers LV.^[4] His first major task at LVMH was to improve lagging sales for the TAG Heuer watch brand;^[2] Lalonde focused on "superaffluent" markets,^[4] such as the golf community in North America,^[2] and redesigned the company's customer service^[4] and retail strategies.^[2][4] He also recruited celebrities, such as Tiger Woods, Uma Thurman,^[3][4] Maria Sharapova, and Brad Pitt to take part in watch campaigns photographed by Patrick Demarchelier, with Woods' recruitment as a brand ambassador reportedly leading to a 30% increase in sales. Under Lalonde, TAG Heuer's sales represented over "50% of the growth in the luxury watch market" in the United States in 2004 and, by 2005, TAG Heuer was rated as the No. 2 luxury watch brand.^[4]

Lalonde served as president and CEO of Louis Vuitton North America^{[9][2][10][3]} from 2006^[9] to 2010,^[9][2] then returned to France to become the global CEO for LVMH brands Moët and Dom Pérignon.^[3] In 2010,^[11] he became global CEO and president of Moët & Chandon^{[5][8][11][9]} and, in July 2010, was named president and CEO of both Moët & Chandon and Dom Pérignon worldwide.^[2]

Ralph Lauren[]

After ten years at LVMH,^[3][5] Lalonde became president of Ralph Lauren International^[10][5] in January 2012,^[8][9] in what was a newly created position.^[12] He announced his departure from Ralph Lauren in December 2013.^[9]

SMCP[]

In May 2014,^[10][13][14] he became the president^[5] and chief executive officer of SMCP (Sandro - Maje - Claudie Pierlot),^[8] an internationally expanding French luxury fashion company ^[15][6][16] in which he also became an investor.^[3] During his first year of leading SMCP, Lalonde travelled extensively in Asia, the Middle East, the United States, and Europe,^[17] with the company posting a 19.2 percent rise in sales for the first half of 2016.^[15] Under Lalonde, SMCP became a publicly traded company on the Paris Stock Exchange in October 2017 with a valuation of US$2.5 billion at its IPO.^[3] In June 2019, after having reported revenues of 1 billion euros for 2018; Lalonde announced that SMCP will acquire French menswear "Accessible Luxury" label De Fursac,^[18] with international expansion planned for the brand.^[19]

Affiliations[]

Lalonde serves on the board of INSEAD, his alma mater,^[5] and has lectured at institutions such as Harvard Business School and Columbia University.^[7]

Personal life[]

Currently based^[15] in Paris with his wife Yvonne^[1] and their three children,^[7] since the late 1990s Lalonde has traveled between New York, Paris,^[3] and Toronto.^[1] He has interests in vintage wine and oenology with private cellars in Paris, France.^[7]

References[]

External links[]