In Brief: Elizabeth Arden
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Elizabeth Arden: One year after her promotion to president and CEO of the Unilever subsidiary, Kimberly Delsing has left the company, Unilever announced Aug. 16. The company said Delsing and Unilever "have mutually agreed that she will leave [Elizabeth Arden] effective Aug. 18 and pursue other business interests." During her short time at the helm, Delsing implemented a "top to bottom" review of the firm that included a restructuring of management and new national ads aimed at improving the Elizabeth Arden image. She departs during the company's launch of Elizabeth Taylor Black Pearls, a followup to the firm's successful White Diamonds. The company apparently is facing resistance from the prestige department stores. Instead of a few-hundred-door launch at Federated, May or Dayton-Hudson, Black Pearls is debuting in 2,000 doors that include Sears and J.C. Penney. Peter England, chairman of Elida-Gibbs/Faberge in France, succeeds Delsing...