Guy Hands has added the final touches to his sweeping restructuring of EMI with the appointment of Elio Leoni-Sceti at the helm of its recorded music division.
As part of the latest move, announced today, Hands will step aside from his chairmanship of EMI into a non-executive function.
As tipped last week in Billboard.biz, Leoni-Sceti, a senior manager with household cleaning products firm Reckitt Benckiser, has joined the music major as CEO of EMI Music.
“This is a hugely exciting time for the music business and for EMI,” says the Italian executive in a statement issued today. “The potential that can be realised in this industry is massive,” he adds, noting, “music consumption is growing more than ever across the world and I cannot wait to get started and to [begin] working with EMI’s artists and employees.” It is unclear when he will start in his new role.
The 42-year-old Leoni-Sceti was recruited by Benckiser in 1992, where he worked his way up the ladder with stints as GM of its German and Italian affiliates, as senior VP of North American Household and as executive VP category development. The former Procter & Gamble executive was promoted by Benckiser to executive VP, Europe in July 2006.
Speaking in the statement, Hands comments, “Having completed the organizational restructuring at the end of June and finalized our strategic work, Elio joins at the right time to shape, drive and lead EMI to become the world’s most artist focused and consumer friendly music company.”
Hands has been in charge on the day-to-day running of EMI since it was acquired last summer by his private equity house Terra Firma for £3.2 billion ($6.3 billion).
As part of his re-engineering of EMI’s recorded music division, due for completion June 31, Hands told staff in January that between 1,500 and 2,000 positions would be made redundant.
Just last Friday, the company confirmed the departure of Jean-Francois Cecillon, who was EMI Music’s president of A&R labels, international, and president Europe, Middle East and Africa. A tandem exec team, comprising Billy Mann and David Kassler, have been brought in to replace Cecillon.
