Global beauty giant Coty – whose brands in travel retail include Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Hugo Boss and Gucci – has made a series of executive leadership changes as it aims to secure a strong management structure to drive growth. The move follows the arrival of Pierre Laubies as CEO and Chairman last November.
Effective 1 February, Pierre-André Terisse becomes Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Executive Committee. Terisse has nearly 30 years of public company finance experience, including business turnarounds, treasury and finance integration. He spent the majority of his career at Danone, most notably as Group CFO but also as General Manager of Danone’s Africa Division for three years. Terisse will be based in London.
Gianni Pieraccioni joins Coty as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Consumer Beauty, and a member of the Executive Committee, effective Monday (today). Pieraccioni will lead the Consumer Beauty in-market organisation, e-commerce and supply chain, focusing on commercial operations and is based in New York. He will support Pierre Laubies, Coty’s new CEO, who is to lead the formulation and strategic vision for Consumer Beauty.
Pieraccioni previously served as President of Revlon’s Consumer Division and as COO of Revlon Inc until 2017. He brings more than 30 years of international business experience with consumer goods companies including J&J, PepsiCo and P&G.
Consumer Beauty President Laurent Kleitman is leaving Coty to pursue other opportunities. In a statement, Coty said: “During the past 20 months at Coty, Laurent has built a strong leadership team and commercial organisation.”
The third appointment is Luc Volatier. He takes the post of Chief Global Supply Officer based in Geneva, effective Monday, replacing Mario Reis. Volatier also becomes a member of the Executive Committee. He joins Coty from Jacobs Douwe Egberts where he served for seven years as EVP Operations with responsibility for Supply and R&D.
In a separate structural change, Coty’s Corporate Affairs function will be integrated into its three divisions following the departure of Esra Erkal-Paler, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, to pursue other opportunities.
New CEO Pierre Laubies said: “These organisational changes are important steps in supporting our ongoing transformation, as we complete the P&G speciality beauty integration and design our strategic roadmap for future growth.
“Since my arrival in mid-November, I have spent extensive time with the divisional, regional and functional teams to assess Coty’s strengths and opportunities. Consumer Beauty and Supply Chain are areas that require an immediate step-change in capabilities, the latter being necessary to leverage further the significant footprint optimisation implemented over the last two years. Consequently, I will assume personal responsibility for Consumer Beauty.”
The announcement on Friday prompted an initial rise in Coty’s share price. It opened that day at US$7.21 and closed at US$7.39.
