After holding various positions in Consulting and running his own PR agency in France, François Kress joined LVMH as Managing Director of le Bon Marché International prior to joining Louis Vuitton Malletier as Store Manager of the Louis Vuitton Store on Avenue Montaigne in Paris. Mr. Kress then served as General Manager of Louis Vuitton, Loewe, Celine and Fendi in Thailand, running and also expanding the business to Vietnam. After LVMH Thailand, Mr. Kress became CEO of LVMH Australia and New Zealand before assuming his position as President of Fendi North America until 2004. For the following 5 years, he was CEO of Bulgari Corporation of America Inc, expanding the presence of the leading Italian jewelry brand in North and Latin America.

Mr. Kress graduated in France from the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique in 1989 and Corps des Ponts et Chaussées in 1992.