LVMH Enhances Its American Structure, Taps Michael Burke for Leadership Role

LVMH reorganizes its structure in the Americas. The French luxury giant has appointed Michael Burke as president and CEO of LVMH Americas, a newly created position that, according to an internal company statement accessed by WWD, aims to “represent and promote the group’s interests in North and South America in a complex and changing geopolitical period.s internal communiqué to which WWD has had access, aims to “represent and promote the interests of the group in North and South America in a complex and changing geopolitical period”.

Burke, one of Bernard Arnault’s closest executives, also assumes the non-executive chairmanship of Tiffany & Co.‘s board of directors, with a strategic role to support the growth of the historic U.S. jewelry house. With this move, the group underlines its intention to reinforce investments in the region over the coming years and highlights the trajectory of the historic executive, who led Louis Vuitton during a decade in which the business tripled revenues and quadrupled profits, according to market sources.

“Michael’s leadership has helped to continually elevate the desirability and craft of the entire industry,“ Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, said in the internal statement. “His long-term vision and entrepreneurial spirit will be invaluable assets at this strategic time in the Americas,“ he added.

The North American region already accounts for nearly a quarter of LVMH’s turnover, which closed 2024 with sales of €84.7 billion. According to the group’s annual report, the conglomerate currently operates 1,193 stores in the United States and employs nearly 45,000 people. Despite the complex tariff context, the group considers that the North American market continues to offer a high potential for the development of luxury.

LVMH has placed one of Bernard Arnault’s most trusted advisors at the head of the region

Under the new organization chart, both Anish Melwani, president and CEO of LVMH Inc. and Davide Marcovitch, president of LVMH Latin America, will report directly to Burke, who will be based in New York.

Burke’s appointment to this position finally rules out his appointment as head of the LVMH Fashion Group, which he was scheduled to take over from Sidney Toledano earlier this year. The latter continues to pilot the group’s fashion brand hólding, which includes Celine, Givenchy, Kenzo, Loewe, Marc Jacobs, Patou and Emilio Pucci.

Burke’s return to the United States marks a new chapter in the career of the executive, born in the French Alps with American family roots, who already had a first professional stint in the country when he began his career at Christian Dior USA in 1986. After serving as president of Louis Vuitton North America from 1993 to 1997, during which time he oversaw the construction of the LVMH tower on 57th Street in New York, Burke returned to Paris as number two at Christian Dior Couture in 1998, before taking over the maison’s worldwide management.

In 2003, the executive was appointed president and CEO of Fendi, leading the Roman house for eight years before taking over Bulgari in 2011 following its acquisition by LVMH. At the end of 2013 he joined Louis Vuitton, where he drove a repositioning of the firm that consolidated its growth.