Geox Appoints Francesco Di Giovanni as Third CEO in Two Years

Italian company Geox is renewing its top management. The company specializing in footwear has announced the appointment of Francesco Di Giovanni as the new CEO. The executive had been an advisor to the group since the beginning of 2025.

Di Giovanni’s appointment follows the resignation of Enrico Mistron from the position. The executive took the position in March 2024 after more than 25 years of experience in the luxury sector. Mistron took over from Livio Libralesso in the position.

“Di Giovanni has held senior management and CEO roles in complex industrial organizations operating in highly competitive and constantly evolving markets,“ Geox said via a statement.

According to the company, the renewal of the management team “is part of a trajectory of accelerating the business transformation process, which is considered strategic to meet the current challenges that will continue to characterize the remainder of 2025 and the entire fiscal year 2026.“

Geox has a restructuring plan in place to turn its business around

The footwear company closed 2024 with a turnover of €663.761 million, down 7.8% compared to 2023, when it recorded sales of €719.571 million. Gross operating profit (EBITDA), meanwhile, stood at €63.23 million, representing 9.5% of revenues, compared to €89 million, or 12.4% of revenues, in the previous year.

At the beginning of 2025, the Italian footwear company announced a new strategic plan for the next four years. This new roadmap, dubbed the New Industrial Plan, has two distinct parts, through which it will update its business model and accelerate its expansion in key markets. Among the plan’s objectives is to record a compound annual growth rate of 5%, which will enable it to achieve its revenue targets, as well as an EBIT margin of over 7%.