Ferragamo put an outside CEO in the chair and went public

Salvatore Ferragamo, founded in Florence in 1927, was run for four decades after the founder's 1960 death by his widow Wanda and then by their six children. By 2006 the house needed professional management to make the leap from an Italian shoemaker into a global luxury brand, and the family chose Michele Norsa, a luxury veteran who had run Valentino, as chief executive.

Norsa spent a decade building the retail network and pushing into Asia-Pacific, which grew into the group's largest market at 36% of sales. In 2011 the family took the company public on the Milan stock exchange — a rare IPO among Italy's family luxury houses — while keeping about 65% of the shares in family hands through its holding.

Norsa stepped down at the end of 2016, closing his tenure with consolidated revenue of €1.43 billion. The arrangement proved durable enough to survive shocks: when COVID-19 cut sales by 30% in 2020, the family recalled the 74-year-old Norsa as executive deputy chairman and, in the same move, vacated their own executive positions — repeating the 2006 lesson that the family should own the house but not run it.

A decade under Norsa ended with €1.43 billion in revenue, a 2011 Milan listing, and Asia-Pacific as the top market at 36% of sales

Six siblings with equal claims could not all run the company, so the family moved executive power to a single professional while keeping ownership and the chairman's title at home.

The brand needed capital investment in directly operated stores and Asia, disciplines a career luxury manager knew better than a family of heirs.

The 2011 IPO imposed public reporting and governance on the family holding, locking in the professional structure before the next generation arrived.

Wanda Ferragamo had spent 40 years mediating among her children; giving an outsider the CEO seat removed the succession question without splitting the company.

When a founder leaves many heirs, hiring one professional CEO can hold the family together: shared trust in an outsider is cheaper than six siblings fighting for the top job.

After Norsa left in 2016 the company cycled through outside CEOs and its growth stalled — 2016 sales rose just 1%. When the pandemic hit, the family fell back on the same playbook: Norsa returned as executive deputy chairman in May 2020, Giacomo Ferragamo gave up his board seat for him, and the family stepped back from executive roles entirely, keeping control through its 65% stake.