Resignation sparks Estee Lauder North American leadership transition

Resignation sparks Estee Lauder North American leadership transition
L-R: Amber English, Mark Loomis, Tara Simon (Source: Business Wire)

The resignation of Estee Lauder North America Group President Mark Loomis has led to multiple leadership transitions within the company, ahead of his retirement in January.

Loomis will be succeeded by Tara Simon as the new group president, while Amber English will assume the role of president for Digital and Online, North America. The company said Simon and English will begin their new roles in January to ensure a seamless transition ahead of Loomis’ retirement.

Simon will report directly to Fabrizio Freda, president and CEO, and English will jointly report to Fabrizio Freda and Gibu Thomas, executive VP, online.

Freda described Loomis as a “visionary” who has driven meaningful change in his three decades with the company. 

“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,” he added. “We are grateful for his contributions and dedication to the company.”

Simon will focus on carrying out the company’s plan for selling products in physical stores in North America, including specialty-multi, department stores, and free-standing stores.

She joined The Estee Lauder Companies in 2020 as senior VP, global manager, Too Faced. She was promoted to global brand president, California brands, overseeing Too Faced and Smashbox, where she focused on driving product and consumer engagement innovations. 

Simon said she looks forward to “galvanizing” the North American team and leading a strategic framework to accelerate its brands. 

“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,” she explains. “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.”

The company will announce a successor to Simon’s previous role at a later date. 

Meanwhile – as the new president for digital and online North America – English will oversee the continued acceleration of the company’s digital transformation and omni-capabilities for North America, leading all e-commerce activities in the region, including the company-owned brand.com properties, retailer.com, and pure-play online retailers.

English joined Estee Lauder in 2022 from Amazon, where she most recently led the online retailer’s global fashion private brands business, developing exclusive-to-Amazon brands and products across apparel, shoes, and accessories.

During her tenure, she spent 14 years serving in various roles across Amazon fashion, beauty, and consumables.

“We have a new chapter ahead of us, and I am excited to collaborate with Tara to advance the strategic direction of our North America business,” said English. “We will continue prioritizing recruiting new consumers, engaging consumers with captivating products, and approaching improvements and distribution to scale growth.”

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