Experts for sustainability and luxury-goods industry.

Dame Polly Courtice, born in South Africa in 1952, graduated at the University of Cape Town and has a Master of Arts from Cambridge University. With an academic background as a historian and archaeologist, she began her career in 1974 as a curator at the South African Museum of Natural History. She later embarked on a marketing career in publishing in the United Kingdom before taking up a position in marketing at Cambridge University. From 1989, Dame Polly Courtice was Deputy Director – and from 2000 to 2021, Director – of the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). She currently holds various board and advisory positions in the private sector and civil society.

Marco Gobbetti, born in Italy in 1958, holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from the American University of Washington D.C. In 1983, he completed his Master’s degree in International Management at the American Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, USA. Gobbetti began his career in management at Bottega Veneta, followed by CEO positions at luxury brands Valextra and Moschino. He became CEO of Givenchy in 2004 and was Chairman and CEO of Céline from 2008 to 2016; both companies are part of the French luxury-goods group LVMH. From 2017 to 2021, he was CEO of Burberry Group plc. Since January 2022, Marco Gobbetti is CEO of Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A.

Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Mercedes-Benz Group AG: “I would like to thank Bader M. Al Saad and Prof. Dr. Clemens Börsig for their outstanding work in the Supervisory Board of our company. They have supported the transformation of Mercedes-Benz with commitment and expertise and have thus enormously enriched the work of the Supervisory Board. I wish them both all the best for the future.”