Richemont’s Bernard on Balancing Tradition With Current Trends in Luxury

For Alain Bernard, president and chief executive officer of Richemont North America, leveraging the inherent strengths of the group’s various design Maisons is essential to its success. But, Bernard stressed, one must be mindful of the present and the ever-changing needs of clients while also having a keen eye on the future. As part of an ongoing series of executive interviews, Tim Boerkoel, founder of global executive search and consulting firm The Brownestone Group, talks with Bernard about what it takes to execute this vision while building strong teams and meaningful relationships with customers. Tim Boerkoel: Alain, you’ve been at Richemont more than 20 years now, first at Cartier in Europe, then in Japan and the U.S. leading Van Cleef & Arpels, and now overseeing Richemont North America. How do you and your team stay engaged and at the forefront of the industry? Alain Bernard: To me, it is about time. Time is critical in luxury, especially if you’re looking to engage and create meaningful relationships with clients. You have to find the right balance between a brand’s history and the present. There exists simultaneously tradition and the need for modernity — a balance between past, present and future. This includes leveraging experience, which brings with it legitimacy, and curiosity, which allows us

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