News It was in Paris, in the very fine building occupied by the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art, that Alain Domi-nique Perrin, Chief Executive Officer of Richemont, was appointed on 11 March to the rank of Officer in the national Order of the Legion of Honour by Pierre Messmer, former Prime Minister, Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour and Chancellor of the French Institute, who appears in the photo opposite with François Pinault (right) and Marek Halter (left).
Numerous personalities from the world of the arts, the economy and politics paid tribute to him during the evening, including Alain Delon, Jean Reno, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Louis Dumas, Olivier Dassault, Christine Ockrent, Bernard Kouchner, Edith Cresson, Dominique Baudis, Jacques et Lise Toubon, Yvon Gattaz, Leslie Caron, Jacques Chancel, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Agnès Varda, Renaud, Jean Nouvel, Jean-Michel Wilmotte, Guy et Françoise de Panafieu, Ernest-Antoine Sellières and Eve Ruggieri.
Born on 10 October 1942 in Nantes, Alain Dominique Perrin is a graduate of the Ecole des cadres et des affaires économiques. In 1969, he joined the company Briquet Cartier as a sales representative, before becoming its general manager in 1970. Three years later he was appointed as General Manager, and from 1976 CEO, of Cartier Musts. Following the merger of the latter company and Cartier Joailliers, in 1981 Alain Dominique Perrin became Chairman of the Board of Cartier International and Cartier SA.
In 1984 he created the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in order to pay tribute to living design, and encourage it and support it, while perpetuating the Cartier name in the world of culture. He then founded, in 1990, the first college of luxury marketing in France (l'Institut supérieur de marketing de luxe), then the International Luxury Watchmaking Exhibition in 1991, and in 1992/1993 established the Luxury Watchmaking Training Institute (IFHH), the aim of which is to raise the skills profile of this singular industry.
CEO of the Richemont group since April 2001, Alain Dominique Perrin is the man behind Cartier's international renown. Indeed, it was he who developed the entire Must range: cigarette lighters, leather goods, watches, pens, scarves, spectacles, perfumes and tableware, marketed today by a network of 189 stores and 10,000 dealers all over the world. To combat counterfeiting, Alain Dominique Perrin engaged in a battle that he pursues every day with fierce determination.
April 18, 2002
