Gabriel Naouri is a French CEO and entrepreneur. He was previously deputy head of international operations of Groupe Casino until July 2017. Since January 2019, he is the Chairman of Yandex.Market, one the leading e-commerce player in Russia.
Biography
Education
Gabriel Naouri graduated from the Université Paris Dauphine with a master's degree in applied mathematics. He later enrolled in the “Global Leadership and Public Policy” program at Harvard University in 2011. Gabriel Naouri is a certified board member from Sciences Po Paris and NYSE Euronext.
Gabriel Naouri joined Groupe Casino in 2007. Since his start at Groupe Casino, he went through different operational stages alike the Michelin model. He started at a Géant Casino Hypermarket in Rennes, where he held different positions. successively as baker, butcher, checkout employee, cleaner, etc. Throughout those training years, Gabriel Naouri attended the traditional Casino training program at the Group headquarters in Saint-Etienne. After becoming fruits and vegetables section manager at Géant Casino of Mandelieu-La-Napoule, he was successively appointed as executive director at the Géant Casino of Fenouillet and then as head of operations of the hypermarket format. In June 2012, Gabriel Naouri was appointed head of brand, digital, and innovation of the Casino Group in France. He created and led the launch of several private label brands, including Doodingues – inaugurating the sector's first augmented reality program for children – and Casino Délices, in collaboration with the Michelin-starred chef Michel Troisgros. In Paris in 2012, Gabriel Naouri developed and implemented the first store fully equipped with “near-field communication” technology end-to-end. He then designed the click and collect solution for Géant Casino food e-commerce operations and oversaw the deployment of Casino Drive in all hypermarkets across France. From 2014 to 2017, he served as Deputy head of international operations of Groupe Casino. In this role, managing 318,600 employees and 12,000 stores around the world, Gabriel Naouri was responsible for the launch and coordination of international action plans in line with the group strategy and had co-responsibility of P&Ls with local CEOs. In addition, he has created and launched businesses for Groupe Casino, such as e-commerce player Cdiscount in Thailand and Vietnam. Over the course of this period, he was Casino's representative director on the boards of Big C supercenter in Thailand, Big C Vietnam and of :es:Hipermercados Libertad|hypermercados Libertad in Argentina. On July 5, 2017, French media covered his involvement with the US private equity fundAdvent International, in relation to the acquisition of the British retail chainThe Body Shop and speculated about his imminent departure from Groupe Casino. After 10 years with Groupe Casino, Gabriel Naouri chose to leave the company in July 2017, to “give a new direction to his career.”
New technology
Since late 2017, Gabriel Naouri has been Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of Æon Group, the largest Japanese retailer headquartered in Chiba, Japan. In August 2018, Gabriel Naouri co-led a $111M financing round with the Æon Group in Boxed.com, a leading e-commerce player in the United States. Boxed.com is often considered as the “Costco for millennials.” In addition to his operational roles, Gabriel Naouri has invested in several e-commerce and new technology companies. He is also a founding board member and chairman of Yandex.Market, one of the leading e-commerce players in Russia, often considered as the Russian Amazon, founded by Arkady Volozoh, the CEO and founder of Yandex.
Honours
Gabriel Naouri has received several awards for his experiences and accomplishments in France and abroad.
