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NEW YORK — Coty Inc. announced on Thursday the appointment of Camillo Pane as chief executive officer as well as a member of the board, effective after the company closes its deal to acquire Procter & Gamble Co.’s (P&G’s) specialty beauty business. Coty said it expects the deal to close in October. Pane is currently a member of Coty’s executive committee and holds the position of executive vice president of category development.
Bart Becht, who has served as interim CEO, will remain with the company as chairman, Coty said in a statement.
“I’m very pleased to see Camillo appointed as CEO of Coty,” Becht said. “He has an excellent track record of accelerating growth, improving business performance and strengthening capabilities to create a best-in-class organization. At Coty, he has already shown himself to be a very strong leader with an intense drive and passion to make Coty the new global challenger in beauty for the benefit of consumers and shareholders alike.”
Pane is a global consumer goods veteran and a proven leader with a strong track record for delivering business performance, Coty said in its statement. Prior to joining Coty, he spent 20 years with Reckitt Benckiser, most recently as head of its global health and personal care business. He played a key role in that company’s move into consumer health, transforming the segment into Reckitt Benckiser’s fastest-growing division, Coty said. Pane’s career in marketing and general management has taken him to Italy, the United States, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Since joining Coty in July 2015, Pane has been leading the development of Coty’s portfolio, category and brand strategies, and development of the company’s beauty brand equities and associated innovation pipeline.
Coty’s product offerings include such brands as adidas, Calvin Klein, Chloé, Davidoff, Marc Jacobs, OPI, philosophy, Playboy, Rimmel and Sally Hansen.
Coty has been making sweeping changes aimed at increasing its clout in the global beauty industry.
The company last fall paid nearly $1 billion for several Brazilian beauty brands owned by Sao Paulo-based Hypermarcas SA. And it recently announced a new organizational structure and leadership team as it prepares to take control of the 43 beauty brands it is buying from P&G. As part of the new structure, Coty announced plans to relocate its executive management team to London to give members greater proximity to key growth markets.
On Thursday Coty said there would be a steady transition between Becht’s tenure as CEO and Pane’s ascension, as the company focuses on its priorities of accelerating revenue growth and delivering an effective post-merger integration. Becht will continue to focus on the integration, where Coty’s management team has made extensive preparation to be able to deliver on the financial benefits of the merger, Coty said, while Pane will focus fully on leading the revenue growth agenda in preparation for transitioning into the CEO role.
