Ex Christie's CEO Moving to Phillips

The NY Times is reporting Edward Doman, the ex CEO and Chairman of Christies will be leaving his position as the Executive Director of the Qatar Museums Authority and will be heading to Phillips as the new chief executive. Phillips is owned by the Russian Mercury Group, dealing in luxury items.

The NY Times reports

Many in the art world were betting that Mr. Dolman, 54, a respected 27-year veteran of Christie’s — he was chief executive and chairman before his departure for the Middle East — was returning to an auction house.

But which one? As it turns out neither Christie’s nor its archrival, Sotheby’s. Mr. Dolman has decided to challenge the decades-old duopoly and become chairman and chief executive of Phillips, the struggling third-place auction company.

“It’s certainly been tried before,” he said of mounting that challenge in a telephone interview, adding that he wanted to refocus his life in London and New York. He starts his new job in July. “I’ve always thought it would be good for everyone to offer clients more options, especially with the significant growth in the number of collectors there are now from all over the world.”

Mr. Dolman is returning to his roots. “My first job was at Phillips,” he said. “Around 1983, I was asked to help out with a country house sale in Bath,” in England. “Unfortunately, I went off to play rugby on Saturday afternoon just when the chief executive came to have a look at the sale. My absence didn’t do me any favors. I wasn’t offered a permanent job.”

Since Harry Phillips, a former employee of Christie’s, founded the company in 1796, Phillips has had a colorful — and checkered — past. Early on, it sold paintings from the estate of Marie Antoinette, old master paintings owned by King Stanislaus of Poland and gilt furniture from Buckingham Palace. But in the last century, it settled into being a place to buy and sell middle-market merchandise with offices throughout Britain.

In 1999, Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, bought a majority stake in the company, which he eventually merged with a dealership run by two former Sotheby’s officials, Simon de Pury and Daniella Luxembourg, creating Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg. Mr. de Pury became the Phillips chairman and Ms. Luxembourg its president. After pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the business, Mr. Arnault eventually bowed out. Ms. Luxembourg left in 2003.

By 2008, Phillips had new owners, this time the Mercury Group, a Russian luxury goods company. Four years later, Mr. de Pury left, and the company went back to being called simply Phillips.

The Mercury Group has deep pockets and a big vision. It moved Phillips’s Manhattan headquarters from scrappy premises in the meatpacking district to Park Avenue and 57th Street. Two years ago, it also bought a large building at 30 Berkeley Square in the Mayfair section of London for $160 million, and is transforming it into a luxurious home.

Michael McGinnis, its current chief executive, is staying at Phillips, Mr. Dolman said, as the company’s chief business getter.

Phillips sells contemporary art, design, photography, limited edition prints and jewelry. But Mr. Dolman said he plans to “look into expanding into different categories.” He is expected to lure talent from Christie’s and Sotheby’s to Phillips. For now he is not saying.

Source: NY Times