Unilever appoints new CEO for prestige beauty division

Unilever has appointed Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson as the new Chief Executive of its prestige beauty division, following the exit of Vasiliki Petrou earlier this year.

It marks a return for Gasco-Buisson to Unilever, having previously served as the Worldwide Brand Leader for Axe/Lynx from January 2020 to October 2022, returning the personal care business to double digit, profitable growth.

She most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Business Units at Pandora from October 2022. Prior to this, Gasco-Buisson spent more than 22 years at Procter & Gamble in various roles.

In a post on LinkedIn, Gasco-Buisson said: "Unilever Prestige is a portfolio of 10 beautiful brands across skin, hair and colour cosmetics, built over the last 10 years by Vasiliki Petrou.

"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."

The new appointment comes after Petrou left her role as CEO of Unilever Prestige, the division she created a decade ago to help bring a portfolio of premium beauty brands into the company.

Over the years, Unilever has added a number of global beauty brands to its prestige portfolio. Among the acquisitions is Tatcha, Hourglass, Living Proof, Murad, Dermalogica, Kate Sommerville and REN Clean Skincare, as well as the purchase of premium biotech haircare brand K18 in December last year.

Read TheIndustry.beauty's feature on the power of prestige beauty.