Unilever has named Jean-Phillippe Courtois R&D Director for its Prestige Division.
Courtois has been with the beauty giant since 2000, where he started as a formulation scientist.
Most recently, he served as R&D Strategy and Operations Lead at Unilever Prestige.
The division is home to Unilever’s high-end beauty brands, such as Murad, Kate Somerville, REN Clean Skincare, Tatcha, Living Proof and Hourglass.
In a post on LinkedIn, the executive announced the new position and said he looked forward to “more innovations with all our talented brand teams and partners”.
Unilever Prestige was created in 2014 by Vasiliki Petrou, who stepped down after a decade as CEO of the division last year.
Under her leadership, the Prestige Division experienced 13 consecutive quarters of volume-led growth thanks to its M&A strategy and in 2023 generated €1.4bn in turnover.
She oversaw the acquisition of ten brands in ten years, including premium skin care brand Dermalogica, ‘clean’ beauty line Paula’s Choice and biotech hair care K18.
Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson was named Petrou’s successor in October.
Unilever’s Prestige Beauty and Wellbeing portfolio, along with its hair care and skin care portfolio, accounted for around 30% of turnover of its wider Beauty and Wellbeing business in 2024.
In its latest financial results, published in February, the consumer goods giant said Prestige Beauty grew mid-single digit reflecting a slowdown in the US beauty market.
Hourglass and Tatcha grew double-digit while other brands including Paula’s Choice delivered low growth.
K18, which Unilever acquired in January 2024, experienced double-digit growth.