Nicola Brandolese is new Net-A-Porter MD

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 12, 2019

Nicola Brandolese has been named the new MD at YNAP’s luxury Net-A-Porter retail unit, reporting directly to the group’s luxury division president Alison Loehnis.

Joining from his role as CEO at high-end footwear brand Giuseppe Zanotti, he’ll be a key figure at Net-A-Porter in London, running the trailblazing e-tailer on a day-to-day basis as it continues to expand and ramp up its ultra-luxe offer. Brandolese was also formerly head of retail at Italian eyewear maker Luxottica.

He’s not the only new exec joining the wider YNAP team though with Pete Marsden coming on board as new chief technology officer at the group, overseeing the tech teams in London and Bologna. 

This is an equally crucial role at a time when e-tail is taking its next step, beyond simply selling product, in a world now driven by personalisation, VR and artificial intelligence. 

He has an impressive 20 years in key tech roles across industries, and he’s also well known within the UK retail industry having worked at House of Fraser and e-tail pioneer Asos, overseeing the tech aspects of the latter’s launch in the key China and Russia markets.

And Thierry Pichon and Alessia Crivelli have also joined YNAP as (respectively) vice-president of global sales/customer experience, and brand and communications director. Both of these roles are new.

Pichon was general manager at Chalhoub’s Level and has also worked for Gucci, Louis Vuitton and RM Williams. Crivelli’s experience includes 15 years at Gucci having most recently been global partnerships and special projects director.

Finally, Paolo Inga has been named YNAP’s global human resources director, reporting directly to group CEO and chairman Federico Marchetti. He was most recently at Vodafone.