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On Tuesday, the Estée Lauder Companies made its first external executive leadership hire since Stéphane de La Faverie was announced as president and chief executive in October.
Brian Franz will be the conglomerate’s chief technology, data and analytics officer, a new combined role, The Business of Beauty has learned exclusively. Beyond leading ELC’s global IT organisation, Franz will oversee online digital experience and enterprise data to simplify the company’s organisational structure and offer better digital touchpoints for customers.
“Having one person that oversees technology, data and all of analytics is going to allow us as a company to really accelerate technology and AI,” de La Faverie told The Business of Beauty. “We are hardwiring it into the company, innovation and [rethinking] the entire tech stack.”
De La Faverie said Franz’s hire is a key step in the company’s broader “beauty reimagined” initiative, which was announced in February. At the time, he said that the company needed to become leaner and faster to provide more compelling innovation.
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“We have this opportunity at this moment in time with Brian to really streamline,” de La Faverie added, saying the company will remove existing silos to create a simpler, nimbler organisation.
Franz joins ELC from State Street, where he was executive vice president, global chief information officer and head of enterprise resiliency. Previously, he held roles at Diageo and Pepsi Co International.
It remains a critical time for ELC, as the company’s stock price continues to dwindle and sales slipped 6 percent in its second quarter. Now, it, along with the rest of the beauty industry, is bracing for the impacts of Trump’s tariff standoff that is expected to significantly affect business in China and South Korea. De La Faverie is still on the hunt for a chief marketing and digital officer and a lead for its makeup division.
The executives de La Faverie announced during the “beauty reimagined” unveil in February were longterm ELC leaders including Jane Hertzmark Hudis as executive vice president, chief brand officer; Justin Boxford, who leads the company’s namesake brand along with Aerin; Sandra Main, head of the skincare cluster; and Akhil Shrivastava, executive vice president, chief financial officer. De La Faverie is still on the hunt for a chief digital officer, marketing officer and lead for its makeup division.
Recently, ELC has made inroads in its digital transformation by working with outside partners; it announced its work with Adobe’s Firefly in digital marketing efforts, from editing images to copywriting, in March. De La Faverie said that more of that is to be expected.
“Google, Adobe [have] all of these proprietary modules. The minute you start mining the data of the company ... and put it in front of [these modules], it becomes a very powerful tool,” he said.
De La Faverie caveats that he isn’t trying to transform ELC into a tech company in its own right.
“I’ve put it very clearly that I want to become the best prestige, consumer-centric beauty company out there,” he said.
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