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Chantal Gaemperle is exiting her role as executive vice president, human resources and synergies at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
In a brief statement Wednesday evening, the French luxury giant said Gaemperle, after “creating a talent development and CSR policy to support the group’s growth” would leave to “pursue new projects.”
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Her successor has yet to be named, and LVMH declined to comment on the circumstances of her sudden departure.
Gaemperle joined LVMH as director of human resources in 2007 from consumer products giant Nestlé, and became a member of LVMH’s executive committee.
During her tenure, she pursued an HR philosophy based on a few key tenets: groom from within, promote more women to the top and experiment now and then by shuttling executives between different business groups, which at LVMH span from fashion and leather goods to beauty and liquors.
In a recent interview with WWD, Gaemperle recounted that roughly 70 percent of all key positions at the luxury giant are now filled via internal promotion. She also noted that nearly half of those positions are now filled by women, versus 22 percent when she arrived.
LVMH has grown from 65,000 employees when Gaemperle arrived to roughly 215,000 today.
The Swiss executive assumed a higher profile in recent years as she promoted the group’s vocational training programs, recruitment tours and an initiative to support women’s professional development.
Prior to Nestlé, where she had been head of corporate management development and sourcing since 2001, Gaemperle was HR director for Merrill Lynch in Switzerland. A graduate of the University of Lausanne, Gaemperle started her career at Philip Morris.
LVMH is expected to recruit about 60,000 people this year.
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