Wella Company is welcoming three new additions to its Leadership Team. Today, the beauty giant announced multiple executive leadership appointments including Gretchen Koback Pursel joining as Global Chief People Officer, Hugh Dineen joining as President of Global Brands and Global Chief Marketing Officer, and Virginie Costa joining as Global Chief Financial Officer —who’s one of only seven women in a pool of 25 comprised of CFOs leading global finance functions among the top 25 beauty companies.
These appointments, which are effective immediately, emphasize Wella Company’s ongoing growth plan which fully commenced when the company returned to its independent status on December 1st of last year.
“As we pursue our goal of unlocking the full potential of our brands and our business, we are focused on building upon our strong foundation of sustainable growth, and are pleased to welcome Virginie, Gretchen, and Hugh to the Leadership Team. Their combined experience across global public companies and their consumer, digital, and broadbased business transformation expertise will be invaluable to our organization. The diverse perspectives and capabilities they bring to the company will be instrumental to guiding Wella Company’s next phase of growth,” said Annie Young-Scrivner, CEO of Wella Company. “As we continue to manage through the headwinds brought about by the global pandemic, we have delivered strong first fiscal year performance. The professional salon community is rebounding and we could not be more proud of their strength and agility to come back strong than ever.”
The recently appointed leadership team members all bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to their new roles.
Prior to coming onboard as Wella Company’s new Global Chief People Officer, Koback Pursel ran human resources for large global public companies including Tiffany & Co. where she served as CHRO and led the people’s agenda during the company’s transformation over her two-decade tenure. With an astute ability to build and develop great talent, she brings extensive expertise in forming values-led organizations that support peoples’ growth and unlock their potential. A passionate advocate of DEI herself, Koback Pursel will be spearheading Wella Company’s efforts to be a true industry leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
An international business and people leader with a proven track record of expanding and elevating global brand portfolios across the beauty category, as well as in consumer health, financial services, and insurance, Dineen brings numerous experience to his newly created role of President of Global Brands and Global Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to joining Wella Company, he served as MetLife’s CMO where he built a breakthrough marketing engine that successfully leveraged digital to significantly accelerate business growth. Dineen also assisted Avon in turning around their significant beauty business and had a successful 16-year career at Johnson & Johnson leading their global consumer health brand portfolio. At the moment, he serves on the Board of Directors of publicly listed company, Hostess Brands.
For her part, Costa brings more than 25 years of financial management experience and a proven track record of developing winning teams to her role as Global Chief Financial Officer. In her prior roles as Chief Financial and Operations Officer for Burberry Americas and CFO and COO of Hermes in France and Americas, she built up a wealth of experience in global consumer and retail experience leading Finance, while also overseeing functions including IT, Supply Chain, and Real Estate. More recently, Costa serves as CFO of GODIVA where she played a key role in helping transform the company, including expansion at retail and across ecommerce. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Directors for Advantage Solutions, global communications and media company, where she chairs the Audit Committee.
A global leader in the $100 billion beauty industry, Wella Company operates in more than 100 countries, employs more than 6,000 employees, and currently has a Leadership Team of 15 executives across Europe, the Americas, Latam/Brazil, and Asia Pacific. The company already has such a strong presence worldwide and these appointments of new leadership will no doubt help inspire continued success and growth.
“Looking ahead, we feel confident that we’re well positioned across our big bets: product innovation pipeline, significant investment in digital, and reaching more customers and consumers across new geographies and channels —retail, ecommerce and professional,” said Young-Scrivner, one of only two women to lead a top global beauty company. “With Virginie, Gretchen, Hugh and the rest of our Leadership Team, we are ready to unleash our ambition to be the best beauty company in the industry.”
For more exciting appointments and brand news, be sure to follow @wellacompany on Instagram.
