Elizabeth Smith To Leave Avon
17 September 2009 - 10:04PM
PR Newswire (US)
NEW YORK, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avon Products, Inc.
(NYSE: AVP) today announced that President Elizabeth (Liz) Smith
has made the decision to leave the company effective October 30,
2009, to pursue her long-time leadership aspiration to be a chief
executive officer. Avon said Ms. Smith made this decision following
a highly successful five-year career with the company, during which
she played an instrumental role in repositioning the business for
long-term sustainable growth. Ms. Smith joined Avon in January 2005
as Executive Vice President and Brand President. In August 2005,
she added responsibility for leadership of North America. In
September 2007, she was named President, Avon Products, Inc., with
responsibility for leading the company's global Marketing, Supply
Chain and Information Technology business units, and later also
assumed oversight for global Sales. Andrea Jung, Avon's Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer said: "Over the past five years, Liz
has partnered closely with me as we have executed the company's
turnaround plan. She has been instrumental in strengthening our
brand competitiveness and elevating our analytical and operational
rigor. Most recently as President, she has successfully driven the
global integration of our key business processes and technology,
helping us develop the requisite infrastructure and wiring to
capitalize on our global size and scale. With these efforts well
underway, Liz is ready to take the next step in her career and
believes the time is right for her to seek a CEO-level position in
another company. I want to thank Liz for her exceptional
leadership, and for her support of the entire team, and especially
me personally. We wish her all the best as she pursues her
long-time career aspiration." Ms. Smith said: "My five years with
Avon have been among my most professionally rewarding as we have
strengthened the foundation of the business and put the company on
a growth track. My decision to leave was not an easy one, given my
continuing belief in Avon's many growth opportunities as well as my
respect for the company's mission to improve the lives of women. I
have been privileged to work with an outstanding team including
Andrea Jung, whose leadership I admire tremendously. With Andrea's
commitment as a relatively young CEO to lead Avon for the
foreseeable future and with her full support, the time is right for
me to seek the next step of my career outside of Avon." The company
said that with Ms. Smith's departure, the global business units
that reported to Ms. Smith will now report directly to Ms. Jung, as
they did before the appointment of Ms. Smith as President in 2007.
Ms. Jung will also continue to oversee the company's commercial
operations. The company said that it has no immediate plans to
replace Ms. Smith in her current role. "We are fortunate to have an
executive leadership team with tremendous depth of talent and
experience as well as diversity of perspectives," said Ms. Jung.
"With this strong executive bench, I am confident that we have the
right team to lead the company through its next period of growth."
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 5.8 million 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
http://www.avoncompany.com/. DATASOURCE: Avon Products, Inc.
CONTACT: Media: Victor Beaudet, +1-212-282-5344, or Sharon Samuel,
+1-212-282-5322, or Investors: Renee Johansen, Yana Friedman,
+1-212-282-5320 Web Site: http://www.avoncompany.com/
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