François-Henri Pinault
Early life
François-Henri Pinault is the son of François Pinault, the founder of Pinault SA, which would later become the retail conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) and then Kering. He was born and raised in Rennes. He graduated from HEC School of Management in 1985. During his studies, he co-founded the CRM company Soft Computing with other fellow students and interned at Hewlett-Packard in Paris as a database-software developer. After graduating, he completed military service at the French Consulate in Los Angeles, and was in charge of studying fashion and new technology sectors.
Career
In 1987, Pinault began his career at PPR (then called Pinault Distribution) where he was promoted manager of the buying department in 1988, head manager of France Bois Industries in 1989, and head manager of Pinault Distribution in 1990. In the 1990s, as Pinault Distribution became Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, an international player in the retail sector, Pinault became president of CFAO in 1993 and CEO of Fnac in 1997. In May 2003, Pinault became vice-president of PPR, and president of Groupe Artémis, PPR's parent company.
Career
In the early 2010s, he implemented the "environmental profit and loss" (EP&L) accounting method that was gradually applied to all the brands owned by the group. He launched the Kering Foundation in 2008 to support women's rights, and the Women in Motion program with the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 to raise awareness around women-related issues in the film industry. In 2009, he financed the documentary Home) by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, which shows aerial shots of various places on Earth and discusses how humanity is threatening the ecological balance of the planet. In January 2018, Kering was named top sustainable textile, apparel and luxury goods corporation in the Corporate Knights Global 100 index. Pinault was mandated by the French President Emmanuel Macron to set up the Fashion Pact during the G7 summit in August 2019, an initiative signed by 56 fashion firms committing to reduce their environmental impact.
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