Gabriele Gennai becomes the new country manager of Obi Italy

Obi's new country manager for Italy is Gabriele Gennai (53). He takes over the position on 1 July from Paolo Alemagna, who held it on an interim basis and will remain with Obi as senior advisor and president of the Italian board.

Gennai will continue to drive the transformation of Obi Italy into an omnichannel provider of complete solutions for the home and garden, according to the company. He is moving from Unieuro SpA, Italy's largest retailer of home electronics and household appliances, where he was chief commercial officer. He is already familiar with the German DIY chain, however: in 1991, he began his career in Obi Italy's first store in Pontedera, before being promoted to category manager in 1995 and finally to director of purchasing and category management in 2001.

In his new position as country manager for Italy, Gennai reports directly to Sebastian Gundel, CEO of Obi Group Holding. In a statement, he emphasised that Paolo Alemagna and the Italian team have succeeded in "significantly improving our business in Italy. We are growing in terms of sales, we have become more efficient and we have improved our profitability". Obi's market share in Italy is to be further increased, "because we continue to regard Italy as an important strategic and attractive market for us," said Gundel.