NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Avon Products, Inc.
(NYSE: AVP) today announced a comprehensive management realignment
to enhance the company's operational and executional effectiveness.
The reorganization, the company's most significant since it reduced
management layers in 2005, provides added management depth and
increased operational oversight of its Commercial Business Units
and also reflects leadership changes in the company's priority
geographies.
Commenting on the changes, Andrea
Jung, Avon's Chairman and
CEO said: "Avon continues to have
significant growth opportunities across our global geographic
portfolio. Our goal is to capture these opportunities by realigning
our top management talent and also through strategic new hires that
bring added management capabilities. The reduction in management
layers in 2005 set the stage for renewed growth by enabling us to
be faster and nimbler, but since then our business has grown
significantly and become increasingly complex. The realigned
management structure reflects this new reality and is designed to
enhance operational rigor and better position us to execute
effectively across the portfolio."
As part of the reorganization, the company said it is
repositioning its six Commercial Business Units into two major
business groups -- the Developed Market Group and the Developing
Market Group. In connection with these changes, Avon today announced the following senior
management appointments, effective March
1:
- Charles (Chuck) Cramb,
(age 64), Vice Chairman, Chief Finance and Strategy Officer, has
been named Vice Chairman of Avon's
Developed Market Group. The Developed Market Group comprises the
Commercial Business Units of North
America and Western Europe,
Middle East and Africa, which include the company's
recently-acquired new businesses, Silpada and Liz Earle. These are headquartered respectively
in the US and the UK. Mr. Cramb joined Avon in 2005 following a distinguished,
35-year career at Gillette. At Avon, he has led the company's restructuring
and acquisition strategies. In his new role he will continue to
oversee corporate strategy.
- Charles Herington, (age
51), Executive Vice President, Latin
America and Central and Eastern
Europe, has been named Executive Vice President of
Avon's Developing Market Group.
The Developing Market Group includes the Commercial Business Units
of: Latin America; Central and
Eastern Europe; and Asia Pacific (which will now include
China). Mr. Herington joined
Avon in 2006 from AOL Latin
America, where he was President and Chief Executive Officer. Under
his leadership, Avon's
Latin America business has almost
doubled in size and gained market share.
- In addition, Avon announced
today that an external search is underway for a new Chief Financial
Officer. The company said that Mr. Cramb will continue to
serve as Avon's Chief Financial
Officer on an interim basis pending the announcement of the new
CFO.
These three executive positions will report directly to Ms.
Jung. In a series of related changes, the company announced the
following leadership appointments for its Commercial Business
Units:
Developed Market Group Changes:
- Jorge Martinez-Quiroga,
(age 55), has been named Senior Vice President and Commercial
Business Unit leader, Avon North America. One of Avon's most experienced direct selling
operating leaders, with 33 years at the company, Mr.
Martinez-Quiroga has served as General Manager Avon Argentina and
Southern Latin America, as well as
General Manager Avon North Latin America, where he led the
resurgence of growth in Avon Mexico following many quarters of
sales decline. Most recently, Mr. Martinez-Quiroga headed up the
company's initiative to contemporize its Representative service
model. Earlier in his career he also served as Vice President,
Global Sales Development.
- Anna Segatti (age 58),
has been named Senior Vice President and Commercial Business Unit
leader, Western Europe,
Middle East and Africa. Also an Avon veteran with 33 years at the company, Ms.
Segatti was formerly Group Vice President, Western Europe and the Middle East. She has been instrumental
in driving Avon's strong recent
performance in Western Europe
while also simultaneously serving as General Manager, Avon UK, sustaining growth in this market
through the recession.
Developing Market Group Changes
- The company said an external search is underway for a new
Commercial Business Unit leader to oversee Latin America, its largest region.
- Srdjan Mijuskovic (age
55), has been named Senior Vice President and Commercial Business
Unit leader for Central and Eastern
Europe. Mr. Mijuskovic was previously Senior Vice President,
Central and Southeastern Europe
including Poland, Hungary, the Czech
Republic and Romania.
During his 14 years with Avon, Mr.
Mijuskovic has served in a range of capacities, including a tenure
as head of Global Sales where he led the global rollout of Sales
Leadership, the company's multi-level earning opportunity.
- Also in Central and Eastern
Europe, Angela Cretu
(age 36), assumes the position of General Manager, Avon Russia.
Ms. Cretu joined Avon in
1999, rising rapidly through the sales organization to become
General Manager Avon Romania and ultimately expanding her
responsibilities to include oversight for the ten countries in
Avon's Southeastern Europe
Cluster. Most recently, Ms. Cretu was Vice President, Business
Model Innovation, where she led the implementation of many of the
company's technology tools to unleash the productivity of its sales
representatives.
- Bob Briddon (age 57), has
been named Senior Vice President and Commercial Business Unit
leader, Asia Pacific including
China. During his 33 years with
Avon, Mr. Briddon has held a range
of senior operating roles. Earlier in his career, he served as
General Manager, Avon Philippines, where he led a significant
turnaround in this market. Mr. Briddon was also instrumental in
establishing the South Asia Cluster Marketing group, and also
served as General Manager, Avon Thailand. Most recently he held the
position of Group Vice President, North America Marketing,
Canada and the Caribbean.
Commenting on these management appointments Ms. Jung said: "With
these changes we are capitalizing on the enormous talents of a very
diverse and seasoned group of executives to strengthen regional and
country leadership across our global portfolio. We are also
rebuilding a team of dedicated Commercial Business Unit leaders
consistent with our focus on executional excellence and operational
rigor going forward."
Avon, the company for women, is
a leading global beauty company, with over $10 billion in annual revenue. As the world's
largest direct seller, Avon
markets to women in more than 100 countries through approximately
6.5 million active independent Avon Sales Representatives.
Avon's product line includes
beauty products, as well as fashion and home products, and features
such well-recognized brand names as Avon Color, Anew, Skin-So-Soft,
Advance Techniques, Avon Naturals, and mark. Learn more about
Avon and its products at
www.avoncompany.com.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR PURPOSES OF THE "SAFE HARBOR" STATEMENT
UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
Statements in this release that are not historical facts or
information are forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as
"estimate," "project," "forecast," "plan," "believe," "may,"
"expect," "anticipate," "intend," "planned," "potential," "can,"
"expectation" and similar expressions, or the negative of those
expressions, may identify forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements are based on management's reasonable
current assumptions and expectations. Such forward-looking
statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which
may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or
achievement of Avon to be
materially different from any future results expressed or implied
by such forward-looking statements, and there can be no assurance
that actual results will not differ materially from management's
expectations. Such factors include, among others, the
following:
- our ability to implement the key initiatives of, and realize
the gross and operating margins and projected benefits (in the
amounts and time schedules we expect) from, our global business
strategy, including our multi-year restructuring initiatives,
product mix and pricing strategies, enterprise resource planning,
customer service initiatives, product line simplification program,
sales and operation planning process, strategic sourcing
initiative, outsourcing strategies, zero-overhead-growth
philosophy, Internet platform and technology strategies,
information technology and related system enhancements and cash
management, tax, foreign currency hedging and risk management
strategies;
- our ability to realize the anticipated benefits (including any
projections concerning future revenue and operating margin
increases) from our multi-year restructuring initiatives or other
strategic initiatives on the time schedules or in the amounts that
we expect, and our plans to invest these anticipated benefits ahead
of future growth;
- the possibility of business disruption in connection with our
multi-year restructuring initiatives or other strategic
initiatives;
- our ability to realize sustainable growth from our investments
in our brand and the direct-selling channel;
- our ability to transition our business in North America, including optimizing our
product portfolio and enhancing field fundamentals;
- a general economic downturn, a recession globally or in one or
more of our geographic regions, such as North America, or sudden disruption in
business conditions, and the ability of our broad-based geographic
portfolio to withstand an economic downturn, recession, cost
inflation, competitive or other market pressures, or
conditions;
- the effect of political, legal, tax and regulatory risks
imposed on us, our operations or our Representatives, including
foreign exchange or other restrictions, adoption, interpretation
and enforcement of foreign laws including any changes thereto, as
well as reviews and investigations by government regulators that
have occurred or may occur from time to time, including, for
example, local regulatory scrutiny in China;
- our ability to effectively implement initiatives to reduce
inventory levels in the time period and in the amounts we
expect;
- our ability to achieve growth objectives or maintain rates of
growth, particularly in our largest markets and developing and
emerging markets, such as Brazil
or Russia;
- our ability to successfully identify new business opportunities
and identify and analyze acquisition candidates, secure financing
on favorable terms and negotiate and consummate acquisitions as
well as to successfully integrate or manage any acquired
business;
- the effect of economic factors, including inflation and
fluctuations in interest rates and currency exchange rates, as well
as the designation of Venezuela as
a highly inflationary economy, foreign exchange restrictions and
the potential effect of such factors on our business, results of
operations and financial condition;
- our ability to successfully transition and evolve our business
in China in connection with the
development and evolution of the direct selling business in that
market, our ability to operate using a direct-selling model
permitted in that market and our ability to retain and increase the
number of Active Representatives there over a sustained period of
time;
- general economic and business conditions in our markets,
including social, economic and political uncertainties in the
international markets in our portfolio;
- any developments in or consequences of investigations and
compliance reviews, and any litigation related thereto, including
the ongoing internal investigation and compliance reviews of
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related U.S. and foreign law
matters in China and additional
countries, as well as any disruption or adverse consequences
resulting from such investigations, reviews, related actions or
litigation;
- information technology systems outages, disruption in our
supply chain or manufacturing and distribution operations, or other
sudden disruption in business operations beyond our control as a
result of events such as acts of terrorism or war, natural
disasters, pandemic situations and large scale power outages;
- the risk of product or ingredient shortages resulting from our
concentration of sourcing in fewer suppliers;
- the quality, safety and efficacy of our products;
- the success of our research and development activities;
- our ability to attract and retain key personnel and
executives;
- competitive uncertainties in our markets, including competition
from companies in the cosmetics, fragrances, skin care and
toiletries industry, some of which are larger than we are and have
greater resources;
- our ability to implement our Sales Leadership program globally,
to generate Representative activity, to increase the number of
consumers served per Representative and their engagement online, to
enhance the Representative and consumer experience and increase
Representative productivity through Service Model Transformation
and other investments in the direct-selling channel, and to compete
with other direct-selling organizations to recruit, retain and
service Representatives and to continue to innovate the direct
selling model;
- the impact of the seasonal nature of our business, adverse
effect of rising energy, commodity and raw material prices, changes
in market trends, purchasing habits of our consumers and changes in
consumer preferences, particularly given the global nature of our
business and the conduct of our business in primarily one
channel;
- our ability to protect our intellectual property rights;
- the risk of an adverse outcome in any material pending and
future litigations or with respect to the legal status of
Representatives;
- our ratings, our access to cash and financing and ability to
secure financing at attractive rates; and
- the impact of possible pension funding obligations, increased
pension expense and any changes in pension regulations or
interpretations thereof on our cash flow and results of
operations.
Additional information identifying such factors is contained in
Item 1A of our 2009 Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009. We undertake no obligation to
update any such forward-looking statements.
SOURCE Avon Products, Inc.