Leadership Shift in French Luxury: Boucheron’s CEO Takes the Helm at Comité Colbert

French luxury redefines its structure. The Comité Colbert, the association that brings together the country’s leading maisons, has confirmed the appointment of Hélène Poulit-Duquesne as the next president. The executive, at the helm of Boucheron for a decade, has been on the organization’s board since 2018 and has held the vice presidency since May 2022.

In her new role, she will succeed Laurent Boillot, LVMH executive and former chairman and CEO of Hennessy, who took over the chairmanship of the Colbert Committee in 2022. His term comes to an end in a symbolic year for the association, marked by its seventieth anniversary and two major actions to promote French luxury: an installation at the Grand Palais and an event in Shanghai to mark sixty years of diplomatic relations between France and China.

Founded in 1954 by Jean-Jacques Guerlain, the Comité Colbert currently brings together 98 luxury maisons and 17 cultural institutions, with a scope of activity covering fourteen sectors, from Haute Couture and fashion to perfumery, cosmetics, hospitality or wine and spirits. Its members include houses such as Boucheron, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Louboutin, Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Van Cleef & Arpels.

The Comité Colbert brings together almost a hundred luxury houses

According to the association’s figures, French luxury represents around 3% of the country’s gross domestic product and nearly one million direct and indirect jobs in France. Hence the importance of the Comité Colbert as a reference interlocutor between the industry, cultural institutions and public authorities.

In his statement after the election, Poulit-Duquesne set as a roadmap the continuity of the major axes of the Comité Colbert, which is to make known the know-how and support the various branches, to collectively promote the values and the maisons on the international scene and to place sustainable development at the heart of the sector’s strategies. Each brand, he stressed, has a role that goes beyond its market share: to defend universal values linked to art, culture and craftsmanship.

The future president arrived at Boucheron ten years ago, after having worked for the LVMH and Richemont groups. In this new phase, she will rely on the team of the Comité Colbert, led from 2020 by its general delegate, Bénédicte Epinay, with the aim of strengthening the international influence of an industry that the association itself defines as one of the most important in the world.