The Gucci Group have appointed Mark Lee to be its chief executive officer on Tuesday, making official what has been his de facto role since last November. Lee, 42, moved to the Gucci brand as president and managing director last Nov. 2 after the ouster of Giacomo Santucci, who has joined Dolce & Gabbana as commercial, licenses and retail director. Lee had been ceo of Gucci Group's Yves Saint Laurent fashion house.

Lee joined Gucci in 1996 and has worked in different capacities there and at YSL. The last nine months have been particularly eventful at Gucci, as Lee oversaw the promotion of Frida Giannini to creative director for women's ready-to-wear, which meant the exit of Alessandra Facchinetti only two weeks after her second runway show in the post-Tom Ford era.

A formidable merchant, Lee oversaw with Giannini the recent launch at retail of La Pelle Guccissima, a range of leather goods and accessories intended to boost a core category based on hard-to-counterfeit relief and embossing techniques. Gucci Group will report its second-quarter sales on July 28 in tandem with parent PPR. In the first quarter, strong sales of leather goods propelled sales at the Italian company up 14.2 percent to 429.9 million euros, or $564.2 million at average exchange rates.