NEW YORK, September 30, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) today announces that after more than 28 years with the Company, Mark Loomis, Group President, North America, will retire at the end of fiscal year 2025. He will be succeeded by Tara Simon, who will assume the role of President, North America, and Amber English, who will assume the role of President, Digital and Online, North America. Ms. Simon and Ms. English will assume their new roles beginning January 1, 2025 to ensure a seamless transition ahead of Mr. Loomis’ retirement. Ms. Simon will report directly to Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Ms. English will jointly report to Fabrizio Freda and Gibu Thomas, Executive Vice President, Online.
“Mark is a visionary leader who has driven meaningful impact through nearly three decades at the Company, promoting greater integration across our portfolio and regions, championing a commitment to our people and values, and inspiring excellence and creativity every day,” said Fabrizio Freda. “He guided the business strategy in North America, maintaining a steadfast focus on the consumer amid the shifting beauty landscape, and while leading our Asia/Pacific region, he oversaw regional strategies that supported business acceleration and commercial operations to drive growth. We are grateful for his contributions and dedication to the Company.”
Mr. Freda continued, “As we embark on the next phase of growth for North America, Tara and Amber bring incredible experience that make them uniquely well-suited to capture the promise of this evolving market while advancing our strategy and ambitions. Together, their leadership marks a new chapter of growth in North America, by launching new products and taking existing ones to new audiences, fueled by relevant, compelling and differentiated marketing, and serving our customers wherever they prefer to shop.”
Ms. Simon will focus on executing the Company’s North America brick-and-mortar channel strategy, including specialty-multi, department stores, and free-standing stores. She joined The Estée Lauder Companies in 2020 as Senior Vice President, Global Manager, Too Faced, and was promoted to Global Brand President, California Brands, which includes oversight of Too Faced and Smashbox, where she focused on driving product and consumer engagement innovations. Ms. Simon is a recognized brand builder, focused on creating brand love and loyalty with a range of diverse consumers. A bold, authentic and highly collaborative leader, her energy and passion for fostering a culture of bravery drives agility, ingenuity and creativity within teams. Furthermore, her experience in achieving strategic gains specifically within the specialty-multi prestige beauty space, make her uniquely suited for this North America leadership role.
A successor to Ms. Simon’s role leading the Company’s California-based brands will be announced at a later date.
Ms. Simon joined The Estée Lauder Companies from Ulta Beauty, where she served most recently as Senior Vice President of Merchandising, Prestige Beauty. In this role, Ms. Simon was responsible for the successful business model evolution and elevation of Ulta Beauty’s prestige brands. As the leader of Ulta Beauty’s Prestige Merchandising Team, Merchandising Strategy Team, and Emerging Brands Team, Ms. Simon dramatically increased the number of prestige brands sold through the retailer by attracting exclusive launches from well-established powerhouse brands like M·A·C and Clinique, while also aggressively pursuing and successfully launching smaller start-up brands, resulting in increased consumer engagement and loyalty. Prior to her time at Ulta Beauty, Ms. Simon served as Divisional Merchandise Manager of Color at Sephora.
“I look forward to galvanizing the incredible North America team and leading a strategic framework to accelerate our iconic brands’ consumer reach and impact in beauty and culture,” said Ms. Simon. “As someone who is growth obsessed, I understand the industry is fiercely competitive, and evolving to continually engage a wide range of consumers for increased prestige beauty share is more important than ever. I look forward to working closely with Amber to identify and capture fast-growing distribution opportunities while bringing to market accelerated product innovations, scaling our hero products and responding to trends faster.”
In her new role as President,…
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