PGM Group board appoints John Hooks as CEO which includes being on the Board of La Perla

John Hooks, CEO, Pacific Global Management

Pacific Global Management (PGM), the holding company which controls La Perla - the luxury lingerie and fashion company - and Elite World  - the global leader in the model agency business operating under the brands Elite, The Society NY and Women Management NY and Paris - has appointed John Hooks, one of the most successful executives in the luxury fashion business, as its CEO.

Mr. Hooks will also be nominated Executive Chairman of Elite World and will join, as a Director, the Board of La Perla.

In the last couple of years, following the acquisition of La Perla and Women Management NY and Paris and the sale of Gold Typhoon, PGM has developed into a fast-growing Group focused on luxury and fashion, with expected revenues of over 300 million Euro in 2015 and a high growth rate predicted for the future.

Mr. Hooks will contribute with his experience and proven record, working in a team with Stefania Valenti, CEO of Elite World, who will continue to lead the development of the model management business which she has successfully turned around since her appointment in 2012 – as well as with Silvio Scaglia, Executive Chairman of La Perla.

In particular, John and Stefania will lead the development of the Group into opportunities adjacent to the model agency business, such as licensing, marketing, and the leveraging of the very significant social reach managed by the Group.

Silvio Scaglia, as Shareholder and Chairman of PGM, warmly welcomes John as a strategic addition to a very successful team which, with him on board, is now ready to lead a larger and increasingly complex Group through its ambitious plans for the future.

Mr. John Hooks’ Biography

John Hooks has been in the luxury fashion industry for over 35 years and has held positions in some of the sector's most influential apparel companies.

After graduating from Oxford University in 1978, he entered the fashion industry through Gruppo Finanziario Tessile S.p.A. (GFT) in Turin, Italy, holding a variety of positions, managing licenses for brands such as Giorgio Armani, Pierre Cardin, Claude Montana, Emmanuel Ungaro and Valentino.

From 1988 to 1994, based in Hong Kong, he was responsible for the establishment of GFT's regional subsidiaries in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia as well as in mainland China (in 1988, the first major foreign fashion company to establish a presence in that country).

From 1995 to 2000 he was Commercial and Retail Director of Jil Sander A.G. in Hamburg, Germany.

In 2000, Mr. Hooks was recruited by Giorgio Armani S.p.A. as Group Commercial and Marketing Director, considerably expanding the company's global wholesale and retail network. In October 2009 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Giorgio Armani Group.

From 2011 to 2014 he was Group President of Ralph Lauren Europe and the Middle East.

Mr. Hooks has been a Non Executive Director of Manchester United plc since November, 2012 and is on the board of Miroglio Fashion s.r.l.