The newly appointed chief executive officer of Dallas’s Neiman Marcus Group may be a native of Rixensart, Belgium—a little “commuter” town about half an hour south of Brussels. But the mid-40ish Geoffroy van Raemdonck has since become something of a swashbuckling, international fashion guru, holding down top positions with leading global luxury brands and attracting attention for his doings from The Hamptons and Washington, D.C., to La Praia beach on Italy’s Amalfi coast.
Consider this 2016 report in PaperCity, describing a party there celebrating van Raemdonck’s marriage to Alvise Orsini, a Paris-based interior designer:
“The freshest oysters and sea urchins were served on the beach, accompanied by liters of Breton Fils Champagne. Stunning pastas, local fish dishes, and decadent desserts spilled from the kitchen of trattoria Armandino, while Neapolitan street singers amused international guests including HRH Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, and Bruno Frisoni, designer for the fashion house Roger Vivier. The showstopper was surely Grammy Award-winning soprano Sumi Jo, who floated toward the beach like a Madonna carried in procession on a boat, singing live arias to serenade the happy couple. Now, that’s amore!”
Van Raemdonck, whom Neiman’s said would succeed Karen Katz as CEO of the luxury retailer on Feb. 12, holds a master of business and sciences degree from the Universite catholique de Louvan in his native Belgium, and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He began his business career at Boston Consulting Group, where he specialized for nearly a decade in growth strategies, before being hired away by L Brands (Victoria’s Secret and La Senza).
From L he went on to Louis Vuitton, a French fashion house and luxury retailer, in 2008. After serving as the company’s senior vice president of stores for the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, van Raemdonck eventually became president of Louis Vuitton for South Europe. From Milan he oversaw the company’s activities in 22 countries, leading a team of 1,200 employees to an estimated $1 billion in annual sales.
In the summer of 2013, he was tapped to become CEO at Irvine, Calif.-based St. Johns Knits International, which had about $325 million in sales that year. In an August 2014 interview in Forbes, van Raemdonck described himself as “energetic” and “action-oriented.” He went on: “My years with Louis Vuitton in the U.S. and in Europe allowed me to hone in on my retail and storytelling skills. I am what I call a customer merchant. I always place our customer at the center of what I do. I am leveraging these skills to deliver a highly desirable product, a story well told, and a memorable shopping experience to the St. John woman of today and tomorrow.”
Just a few months after that interview appeared, however, van Raemdonck forsook the St. John woman for the Ralph Lauren fashion house. At Ralph Lauren, the Belgian executive was named group president for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Global Travel Retail. His accomplishments at Ralph Lauren, a Neiman Marcus news release said, included “delivering strong double-digit profit growth over multiple years, expanding gross margins, and increasing distribution quality.”
Last year van Raemdonck was replaced as President EMEA, becoming the company’s group president in charge of commercial development and expansion strategy. The trade press described the move as a “senior management reshuffle,” part of “Ralph Lauren’s ‘Way Forward’ business plan to act against declining sales” in the U.S.
In a news release Friday, van Raemdonck said, “Neiman Marcus manages one of the most iconic brand portfolios in fashion retailing, and I am excited to build on the great foundation Karen [Katz] created during her tenure. I look forward to working closely with the leadership team, the company’s 14,000 employees globally, and our luxury brand partners as we continue to innovate and engage our loyal customers in new ways.”
Quoting Neiman Marcus, Reuters said van Raemdonck’s annual base salary in Dallas “will not be less than $1 million.”
