London– With the full support of the Pinault family and at the recommendation of Guillaume Cerutti (former CEO of Christie’s), the Christie’s Board of Directors has appointed Bonnie Brennan as Chief Executive Officer, effective February 1, 2025.

Shi Junan will continue to work with François Pinault and François-Henri Pinault to organize and lead the newly established company under the Pinault family Artémis Group and promote the development of the group's artistic and cultural activities.

As part of the new company, Stephen Schmidt will serve as President of the Pinault Family Collection and will continue to serve as Chairman of Christie’s Board of Directors.

During his eight years as CEO of Christie's, Stephen Schwartz led Christie's steady growth and achieved outstanding results, including record-breaking sales of masterpieces, the highest-grossing private collection in auction history, and the expansion and acquisition of businesses across the globe and in multiple collection categories.

Ms. Brennan joined Christie's in 2012 and has held various leadership positions and played an important role in many of Christie's important art and private collection auctions. Ms. Brennan is a veteran in the auction industry with 28 years of experience and has served as President of Christie's Americas since 2021. Under her leadership, the Americas business has grown significantly, with 48% of Christie's global auction sales coming from the region.

Francois Pinault and Francois-Henri Pinaultsaid: “Christie’s is an important asset of ours, and we are very grateful for the countless positive changes and successes the company has achieved under the leadership of Andrew Syed. We have now decided to invite him to further assume an important position directly under the Group to lead all art-related projects within the Group. We are also excited to announce that Bonnie Brennan will serve as the new CEO of Christie’s. She has served as President of Christie’s Americas in the past few years and has extensive experience in the art market. Andrew Syed will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Christie’s, and Bonnie will take over the role of Chief Executive Officer. We firmly believe that Christie’s will continue to thrive and bring more exciting experiences to our clients, experts, Christie’s team and art lovers around the world.”

Shi Junan"I have been honored to serve as Christie's CEO for the past eight years, working with a world-class team and achieving many successes and challenges in both auctions and private sales. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to François and François-Henri Pinault for their trust and support, and I look forward to my new responsibilities. I am pleased to hand over the responsibility of Christie's CEO to Bonnie, with whom I have worked closely for many years. She has all the talents Christie's needs and will continue to lead and further deepen Christie's market leadership."

Bonnie BrennanHe added: “I am deeply honoured to be appointed as CEO of Christie’s and to succeed Stephen. Over the past eight years, I have had the privilege of working closely with Stephen as we have successfully expanded the business and his inspiring and effective leadership has been evident to all. I will continue to work with him as Chairman of the Board. Leading this extraordinary team of passionate and talented people around the world and our commitment to our clients and partners is an honour and responsibility I take very seriously. I look forward to continuing Christie’s 259-year history by bringing the finest art and products to even more art lovers and continuing Christie’s far-reaching influence.”

Shi Junan’s artistic career began at the Centre Pompidou, where he served as General Manager from 1996 to 2001, then Chief of Staff at the French Ministry of Culture, and later as CEO of Sotheby’s France. He joined Christie’s in 2016, and during his tenure as CEO, Christie’s achieved many record-breaking auction sales, including Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (2017), The Collection of David Rockefeller (2018), Beeple’s Every Day, First 5000 Days (2021), and The Collection of Paul Allen (2022). During his tenure, Christie’s also achieved remarkable breakthroughs in business strategy, including the recent acquisition of Gooding & Co, the relocation of its Asia Pacific headquarters to The Henderson, the launch of Christie’s Ventures, the development of art lending services, and an active commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

After working for Sotheby’s for 15 years,Bonnie BrennanJoined Christie's in 2012. She has held several leadership positions in business development and has been president of Christie's Americas since 2021. Under her leadership, Christie's has continued to achieve record-breaking auction results, including the Getty Collection, the Anne Bass Collection, and the Barney Ebsworth Collection. In recent years, Christie's has invested more heavily in technology and presented more diverse art masterpieces to attract a wider range of younger generation buyers to join the collection.

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