A new executive hire at Estée Lauder Companies (EL -1.36%) was the main news item driving the company's stock higher on the penultimate trading day of the week. Thursday saw the storied cosmetics maker's share price rise by over 3%, a figure that was more than high enough to beat the S&P 500 index's 0.3% increase.
A high-profile return
That morning, Estée Lauder announced that it had hired Lisa Sequino to be the president of its makeup brand cluster. Sequino is quite the experienced cosmetics industry executive, having most recently served as CEO and board member of industry company Supergoop! Prior to that, she served in both capacities for JLo Beauty & Lifestyle companies, the beauty brand founded by actor Jennifer Lopez.
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The incoming executive will be a familiar figure to some in Estée Lauder's offices. Before her two CEO stints, she was with the company for over nine years, serving in a variety of high-level roles. The most recent of these was senior vice president of North American Brands. Before that stretch, she worked for eight years at consumer goods titan Procter & Gamble as a cosmetics executive.
In Estée Lauder's press release touting Sequino's return, Chief Brand Officer Jane Hertzmark Hudis said "Her unique combination of strategic and conceptual thinking, entrepreneurial mindset and operational excellence makes her exceptionally well-suited to fast track our makeup cluster into its next phase of growth."
The right executive in the right job?
Sequino certainly feels like quite the "get" for Estée Lauder, not least because of her recent experience as the leader of two brands familiar to industry watchers. The company was built on its success with makeup products, and as such they'll be important for its future too.
