Pure Beauty

Estée Lauder appoints new leaders to travel retail business

By Austyn King | Published: 15-Mar-2022

Israel Assa will lead the beauty owner's next phase of growth as Global President, following the departure of Olivier Bottrie in May

Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) has refreshed its travel retail business with key leadership appointments, following the retirement of current Global President Olivier Bottrie.

Taking control of the division – which accounted for around 28% of the beauty owner's net sales in 2021 – is Israel Assa, who will take up the mantle of Global President, Travel Retail Worldwide.

Assa is credited with driving “tremendous” growth across the MAC owner's travel retail business across his 21-year career, championing innovation within the sector, developing customer experiences and bringing together brands and retailers to meet consumer demand.

“Israel’s deep understanding of our Travel Retail business, his long standing relationships with retailers and airport landlords and his passion for our consumer make him perfectly positioned to take ELC’s Travel Retail business into its next generation of growth,” said Peter Jueptner, President, International, at ELC.


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Meanwhile, Javier Simon will take the reins from Assa as ELC's President, Commercial, Travel Retail Worldwide, overseeing the company's regional businesses in APAC, EMEA and the Americas as well as its global Center of Excellence in Switzerland for building brand partnerships.

In his current role as President, Travel Retail for Asia Pacific, Simon said to have demonstrated “deep understanding” of the channel, with his team's focus on Chinese domestic travel proving critical to the channel's success during the uncertainties of the global pandemic.

Jueptner added: “We are proud of the exceptional depth and quality of talent across the organisation, and as Olivier steps into his well-deserved retirement, we are pleased to elevate Israel and Javier, two dynamic, internally-trained and highly experienced leaders into these roles of greater responsibility.

“ELC remains committed to investing in and growing our local and international talent around the world, particularly leaders like Israel and Javier, who have extensive first-hand experience in Travel Retail and deep global expertise across all aspects of prestige beauty.”

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