Coty’s Revolving Door Of CEOs; Revlon Chopping Heads; People News In Brief

Coty’s incoming CEO has more direct beauty experience than its past four going back to 2013. More people news.

Coty Taps New CEO For Summer Start

Pierre Denis, currently CEO of Jimmy Choo Group Limited, will become CEO of [Coty Inc.] following the firm’s ongoing strategic review, with an expected start during summer 2020. Pierre Laubies, who has been helming Coty since November 2018, “has been instrumental to successfully leading the company’s transformation and completion of the integration of the P&G Beauty Business,” the New York-based firm said in a late February announcement. The merger with Procter & Gamble Co.’s beauty business was a massive transaction that was lengthy to negotiate and took some 15 months to finally close in October 2016, at which point key assets such as CoverGirl had begun collecting dust and the US mass market was in decline. In July 2019 the firm wrote down roughly $3bn in value of brands acquired in the deal. The firm has begun work to rationalize its portfolio, starting with the late 2019 sale of Younique back to the company’s founders for a fraction of the $600m Coty paid for it in 2017. (Also see "Coty ‘Absolutely Not In Fire Sale Mode’ Following Younique Divestiture That ‘Stunned’ Investors" - HBW Insight, 18 Nov, 2019.)At that time, Camilo Pane was CEO. His tenure, like Laubies’ and those of Pane’s immediate two predecessors, Bart Becht and Michele Scannavini, was short, with none lasting much more than two years.

Denis will be the first CEO of that lineage with direct experience in the beauty business, including in leadership roles at [LVMH Moet Hennessy - Louis Vuitton] and Christian Dior. Coty additionally said Pierre-Andre Terisse will remain chief financial officer while picking up chief operating officer duties. (Also see "Coty’s $600m Kylie Cosmetics Bet Has Analysts Nervous, But ‘We Don’t See Weaknesses,’ CFO Says " - HBW Insight, 18 Nov, 2019.)

Colgate Elects CEO Wallace To Board Chair

Colgate Palmolive Company announces 11 March that former CEO Ian Cook will retire from his position as director and chairman of the board effective 1 April, and President and CEO Noel Wallace will succeed him as board chair. The move follows a leadership succession plan laid out in February 2019. (Also see "At Colgate Helm, Wallace Expected To Continue Cook's Strategies" - HBW Insight, 27 Feb, 2019.) Colgate additionally notes that Martina Hund-Mejean, formerly chief financial officer at Mastercard Inc., has been elected to the board, and that Charles A. Bancroft, an executive vice president with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., has resigned from his board position.

Fragrance Creators Welcomes Three To Board

Trade group the Fragrance Creators Association recently announced the appointment of three new members of its board of directors. Shardona Daneshvari, global account director at [International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.], Greg Adamson, senior vice president of global regulatory affairs, product safety and sustainability at [Givaudan SA], and George Daher, SVP of global product safety, regulatory affairs and green chemistry at the [Estee Lauder Companies Inc.], join 15 other industry executives on FCA’s board.

Revlon To Rightsize

Revlon Inc. aims to achieve cost savings between $200m-$230m annually by the end of 2022 as part of its restructuring program, with 60% of that savings estimated to come from headcount reductions. In a 9 March release, the New York-based firm offers details about its restructuring, noting it will include workflow efficiencies, support function streamlining and “rightsizing the organization.” Reportedly, the layoffs will impact nearly 1,000 employees and will take place in 2020.