Estee Lauder announces new company organizational structure

NEW YORK The Estee Lauder Cos., whose brands include Aveda, MAC, American Beauty and Flirt!, has announced the company’s new organizational structure and senior leadership team, marking the completion of the second phase of its succession plan unveiled nearly 18 months ago.

Fabrizio Freda, who will become the company’s president and CEO on July 1, has established an executive leadership team that includes all of the brand, region and function heads. Another newly formed team, dubbed the program management team, is a subcommittee of the executive leadership team focused on implementing top strategic priorities, building new capabilities and delivering cost savings.

Under the new structure, there will be four categories of brands that will now be organized according to channel and consumer segmentation. The brand leadership team that will report to Freda includes:

• John Demsey, who is currently group president of the Estee Lauder, MAC, Tom Ford and Prescriptives brands, will add the specialty group of Bobbi Brown, La Mer and Jo Malone to his portfolio. Reporting to Demsey and taking on a new role will be: Jane Hertzmark Hudis, currently president of BeautyBank, Origins and Ojon, who will become global brand president of the Estee Lauder brand; Maureen Case, who will continue as the global brand president of the specialty group and will oversee the Bobbi Brown, La Mer and Jo Malone brands; and Caroline Geerlings, who will continue to serve as SVP, general manager Prescriptives.
• Lynne Greene, currently global president of Clinique, will now become the global brand president of the Clinique, Origins and Ojon brands. Reporting to Greene will be Jane Lauder, SVP, general manager of Origins.
• Veronique Gabai-Pinsky, who currently oversees Aramis and designer fragrances, will become the global brand president Aramis designer fragrances, BeautyBank and IdeaBank, the company?s entrepreneurial think tank.
• Dominique Conseil, who is currently president of Aveda, will become the global brand president of Aveda, salon and pharmacy channels. Peter Lichtenthal will continue to serve as president of Bumble and bumble, along with the Darphin brand. Lichtenthal will report to Conseil.

With regard to regions, the company is working to place a greater emphasis on creating economies of scale by region and developing new marketing capabilities on a regional basis. In line with this initiative, the company has announced the following personnel changes:

• Thia Breen, currently global president of the Estee Lauder brand, will assume new responsibilities as the president of North America, a newly created position and company region.
• Cedric Prouve, group president, International, will continue to have the following direct reports: Fabrice Weber, president of the Asia Pacific Region; Ivan Fernandez, president of Europe, Middle East and Africa; Olivier Bottrie, president of Travel Retailing Worldwide; Per Neuman, general manager of Estee Lauder U.K.; and the newly-created region of Latin America led by Daniel Rachmanis, who will become SVP Latin America and business development.

Breen and Prouve will report to Freda.

The company noted that the functions will now be more fully integrated with the brands and regions. Reporting to Freda will be: Harvey Gedeon, EVP research and development and product innovation; Gregory Polcer, EVP of global supply chain; and Dennis McEniry, president of Estee Lauder Companies online.

Amy DiGeso, EVP of global human resources, and Richard Kunes, EVP and CFO, will have dual reporting to both William Lauder, who will become the company’s executive chairman on July 1, and Freda.

Sara Moss, EVP and general counsel, Alexandra Trower, EVP of global communications, and Deborah Krulewitch, SVP of corporate administration, will continue to report to the new executive chairman, Lauder.

In addition, Freda will join the company’s board and will report to Lauder.