Salvatore Ferragamo’s new board will be smaller, have more independent directors and its chairman will not hold executive powers, the owners of the Italian fashion house said on Wednesday, in the latest governance changes at the group.

Ferragamo’s board comes up for renewal in April and the family owners, represented by holding company Ferragamo Finanziaria, have appointed a headhunter firm to propose candidates for their slate.

The choice of a non-executive chairman confirms an interim decision taken last year when Chairman Ferruccio Ferragamo, son of late founder Salvatore, handed over his executive powers to former chief executive Michele Norsa, who was brought back as deputy chairman to help revamp the brand and weather the Covid-19 storm.

Sources told Reuters late last year that the majority owners had held informal talks with investors to sell a minority stake in their holding firm as they scramble to turn around the Florentine leather goods brand, famous for shoes worn by Hollywood stars such as Audrey Hepburn.

The company denied at the time that the family planned to sell the stake or that they had met investors.

By Agnieszka Flak; editor: Kirsten Donovan