LONDON — Unilever has named former Pandora executive Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson as chief executive officer of its Prestige division, succeeding Vasiliki Petrou, who announced her departure in June.
Gasco-Buisson, a Unilever alumna with a degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University, has more than two decades of experience working in beauty and prestige, including at Procter & Gamble.
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The enthusiastic, high-energy executive will join Unilever on Nov. 1 and report to Priya Nair, Beauty & Wellbeing president.
Most recently, Gasco-Buisson served as the chief marketing officer and executive vice president of Global Business Units at the jeweler Pandora. During her previous job at Unilever, she was worldwide brand leader and oversaw the P&L of personal care brands Axe and Lynx.
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Unilever said she has “strong experience building both entrepreneurial and more established brands, and is the right person to lead Unilever Prestige during this next phase of its growth journey.”
In a statement on her LinkedIn page, Gasco-Buisson called Unilever’s 10 prestige brands “beautiful,” and added that she knows and respects Petrou “enormously.”
“I have worked in beauty for most of my career, and I am thrilled to be returning to lead these brands and teams of entrepreneurial, talented and passionate people into the next chapter of growth,” Gasco-Buisson said.
At Pandora, she worked on high-profile campaigns featuring Pamela Anderson, and also helped forge a sponsorship deal with the British Fashion Council for the annual Fashion Awards.
Gasco-Buisson’s appointment comes at a time when Unilever is said to be shopping some of the bigger brands in its Prestige division, including Ren and Kate Somerville, part of the consumer giant’s wider efforts to streamline operations, boost profits and deliver more value to shareholders.
Petrou, who started the Prestige division a decade ago, and worked closely with Unilever’s former CEO Alan Jope, announced her resignation in mid-June.
“I’ve made the difficult decision to leave in pursuit of my dream to set up my own investment fund,” Petrou said.
During her tenure, Petrou made a series of acquisitions, starting with the much sought-after Dermalogica in 2015 for an estimated purchase price of $1 billion. The division’s most recent acquisition was the buzzy biotech hair care player K-18 Biomimetic Hair Science.
On Petrou’s watch, Unilever became a key player in prestige beauty, although the division is still dwarfed by sales of its mass-market products, which include Dove and Vaseline.
In the first fiscal half, Unilever’s Beauty and Wellbeing division saw the highest revenue growth across the company. Reported sales climbed 5.1 percent to 6.5 billion euros, while underlying sales growth was 7.1 percent.
The division benefited from double-digit growth in health, well-being and prestige beauty combined, although prestige sales saw “softer growth” in the six months, reflecting a slowdown in the U.S. beauty market, Unilever said in July during its results presentation.