Wella Company, a global leader in the $100 billion beauty industry with a top professional and retail hair, beauty tech, and nail portfolio of iconic brands including Wella Professionals, Clairol, OPI, Nioxin, Sebastian Professional, and ghd, appointed three diverse C-suite executives to its Leadership Team.
Virginie Costa joins as Global Chief Financial Officer; one of only 7 women in a pool of 25 comprise CFOs leading global finance functions among the top 25 beauty companies. Gretchen Koback Pursel joins as Global Chief People Officer and Hugh Dineen joins as President of Global Brands and Global Chief Marketing Officer. The appointments, effective immediately, underscore Wella Company’s growth plan which commenced on December 1, 2020, when the company returned to independent operating status, led by Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts (“KKR”), a leading global investment firm that invested a majority-equity stake.
“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 stronger than ever.” Ms. Young-Scrivner added: “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, e-commerce and professional. 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,” concluded Scrivner.
Virginie Costa joins Wella Company as Global Chief Financial Officer bringing more than 25 years of financial management experience and a proven track record of developing winning teams. Her wealth of global consumer and retail experience as Chief Financial and Operations Officer for Burberry Americas and CFO and COO of Hermes in France and Americas, showcase her agility leading Finance while also overseeing functions including IT, Supply Chain and Real Estate. Most recently, Virginie served as CFO of GODIVA where she was instrumental in helping transform the company, including expansion at retail and across e-commerce. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Advantage Solutions, a global communications and media company, where she chairs the Audit Committee.
Gretchen Koback Pursel joins Wella Company as Global Chief People Officer. Gretchen has extensive experience running human resources for large global public companies. Most recently she held the position of CHRO at Tiffany & Co. where she led the people agenda during the company’s transformation over her two-decade tenure. Gretchen brings an astute ability to build and develop great talent. She also brings expertise in developing values-led organizations by creating new structures and capabilities to support peoples’ growth and unlock their potential. Gretchen is a passionate advocate of DEI and will be leading Wella’s Company’s efforts to be a true industry leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Hugh Dineen joins Wella Company in the newly created role of President of Global Brands and Global Chief Marketing Officer. Hugh is 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. Hugh joins from MetLife where he built a breakthrough marketing engine that successfully leveraged digital to significantly accelerate business growth as their CMO. Prior, he helped turn around Avon’s significant beauty business including the skincare, haircare, color cosmetics and fragrance portfolios. He also had a successful 16-year career at Johnson & Johnson leading their global consumer health brand portfolio. Hugh serves on the Board of Directors of a publicly listed company, Hostess Brands.
Wella Company operates globally in more than 100 countries and employs more than 6,000 employees. The Wella Company Leadership Team led by CEO Annie Young-Scrivner, one of only two women to lead a top global beauty company, is comprised of 15 executives across Europe, the Americas, Latam/Brazil, and Asia Pacific of which 40% are women.
