Davines Group Names Alejandro López CEO for North America
MILAN — Davines Group — the Italian beauty company that owns professional hair care and skin care brands Davines and Comfort Zone, respectively — has found its man in the U.S.
Alejandro López has been named chief executive officer of Davines North America, succeeding Anthony Molet, who was promoted to the role of CEO of the whole group last year. Molet’s appointment was effective in May.
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López will report to Molet with dotted lines to Mark Giannandrea, global general manager for the hair care business, and to Arnaud Goullin, global general manager for Comfort Zone, via Brian Brazeau, who is managing director of Comfort Zone North America.
Molet spearheaded the exponential growth of the company’s North American subsidiary, which under his 13-year tenure became the best-performing one for the group. In addition to New York, the firm is present in more than 90 countries and has offices in London; Paris; Mexico City; Hong Kong, and Deventer, Netherlands.
After an international education, including a degree in chemical engineering from Tufts University, executive programs from MIT and Harvard Universities, as well as INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, López went on to gain business-to-business and business-to-consumer experiences in the beauty industry.
After joining L’Oréal in Venezuela in 1992 and holding numerous marketing and general management roles for the company in South America and Europe, in 2008 López was promoted by L’Oréal Professionel to vice president and general manager for the U.S., where he also oversaw brands including L’Oréal Professional and Kérastase. In 2011, he was named senior vice president and general manager of SalonCentric, the distribution branch of L’Oréal USA.
Courtesy of Davines Group
Molet underscored that López’ “deep knowledge of the North American market, combined with his experience abroad, makes him an important asset for us.”
“But most of all, I see in Alejandro a great fit for our set of values for people and the planet, which is always the origin of our growth strategy,” added Molet.
While the pandemic interrupted Davines Group’s decade of double-digit growth year-on-year last year, the company still managed to limit the losses, a difficult task considering that the activity of hair salons and spas was significantly hit by the COVID-19 restrictions.
In 2020, the group’s turnover was down 6.2 percent to 153 million euros, but net profit grew 12 percent to 14.7 million euros. Over 78 percent of total revenues were generated outside Italy, with North America accounting for 35 percent of total revenues.
In the first four months of 2021, Davines Group registered sales of more than 60 million euros, up 33 percent and 13 percent compared to the same period last year and in 2019, respectively.
Founded in 1983 by the Bollati family, Davines Group was a research company making high-end hair care and skin care products for third parties. In 1993, the company founded the Davines hair care brand. Three years later, Comfort Zone launched with professional skin care products destined to spas, thermal baths and beauty centers. All the formulation and production procedures take place in the laboratories inside Davines Village, the firm’s headquarters in Parma — in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna — inaugurated in 2018.
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