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Estée Lauder brings on Birchbox head to lead MAC

2/28/2018
Estée Lauder’s MAC Cosmetics brand has a new global leader. The company has named Philippe Pinatel senior vice president and global general manager for MAC Cosmetics, effective March 5.

 

[caption id="attachment_582855" align="alignleft" width="150"]Philippe Pinatel Philippe Pinatel[/caption]

Pinatel, most recently Birchbox’s president and COO, succeeds global brand president Karen Buglisi Weiler, who is stepping down after 20 years with the company to focus on personal commitments. Effective in July, she will move into an advisory role after assisting with Pinatel’s transition, with her full departure effective December 31.

 

“I would like to sincerely thank Karen for the strong success she helped MAC achieve under her leadership and for her deep dedication to the brand,” Estée Lauder president and CEO Fabrizio Freda said. “As Karen takes this important personal step forward, I am also thrilled to welcome Philippe to our company. The MAC brand will strongly benefit from his tremendous leadership in this important role.”

Pinatel brings roughly 20 years of beauty retail experience to Estée Lauder. At Birchbox, he led such functions as merchandising, retail operations and its international business. He also oversaw the launch of BirchboxMan while advancing the company’s product development and European operations alongside its core subscription box. He joined Birchbox from Sephora Canada, where he was vice president and general manager of Sephora Inside JCPenney. His experience also includes 11 years at beauty company Guerlain International, where he led operations in various international markets.

“Philippe shares our vision to propel the brand into its next chapter of growth, reinvigorating M·A·C’s presence and impact on the industry globally,” Demsey said. “He brings tremendous experience from disruptive online and retail channels that have experienced explosive growth under his direction. His transformative approach to leadership, strength in brand-building and extensive digital-first beauty experience will inspire new ways for the brand to lead as the renegade and trendsetter in the beauty and retail industries.”

Pinatel joins MAC as it has achieved the No. 1 makeup brand spot in such countries as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Malaysia and Brazil, among others, based on NPD data. Estée Lauder attributed the brand’s growth to Buglisi Weiler’s leadership since she joined Estée Lauder as part of its MAC acquisition in 1998. IN the past year, she has made a push to grow MAC in high-growth channels and online.

“Karen is a relentless supporter of delivering the best experience possible to our consumers through upholding our core value of makeup artistry,” said Mr. Demsey. “She prioritized building an infrastructure to develop, inspire and mobilize an exceptional team of more than 20,000 artists globally who are at the heart of the brand and instrumental to its success. Her endless enthusiasm, unwavering passion and fierce loyalty to the brand’s future were driving forces to support MAC in its unconventional rise to success.”
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