Barbara Lavernos, currently EVP, Chief Technologies & Operations Officer, will lead a new Department including Research, innovation and Technologies, as of February 1st 2021.

This appointment results from the wish expressed by. Laurent Attal, EVP Research & Innovation, to retire at the beginning of February 2021, following a very rich career of over 34 years with the Group.

Barbara Lavernos

An engineer by training, Barbara Lavernos joined the Group in 1991. She became Director of the Rambouillet plant in 2000 and was appointed Global Chief Procurement Officer in 2004. She was entrusted with the General Management of Travel Retail for the Luxury Division in 2012, and for the entire Travel Retail department in 2013. In 2014, she becomes Chief Operations Officer and a member of the Group’s Executive Committee. Then, she embarked all parts of the business on a profound digital transformation and redesigned the supply chain to increase flexibility and agility to respond to channel shifts, in particular the explosion of e-commerce. At the end of 2018, Jean-Paul Agon also asked her to lead the "IT revolution", with the ambition to become the world champion of "Beauty Tech".

In her new role, Barbara Lavernos will not only take over Research and Innovation, but will also continue leading Information Technologies (IT) and the group’s major BeautyTech transformation project.

I am convinced that the combination of R&I and Technology will enable us to invent the Beauty of the future: a Beauty which relies on R&I - at the historic heart of our model based on science and innovation, now allied with new opportunities offered by technology. This new Direction of Research, Innovation and Technology will enable us to conquer new territories, increase brand innovations and strengthen our position as the world leader in beauty,” said L’Oréal Chairman and CEO, Jean-Paul Agon.

Antoine Vanlaeys

Antoine Vanlaeys, current Operations Director for the Asia-Pacific Zone, will succeed Barbara Lavernos as Chief Operations Officer. As such, he will join the Group’s Executive Committee.

Antoine Vanlaeys joined the Group 2002 and managed multiple responsibilities within Operations. In 2011, he was appointed Director of Operations for L’Oréal Luxe, where he overhauled the operating model to support the growth of all brands. In 2016, he was appointed as Director of Operations for the Asia-Pacific region, which has since become the Group’s leading geographical zone. He orchestrated with his teams the acceleration of e-commerce in the region, particularly in China, where online sales now account for more than half of our sales. He also strengthened the local production capacities and the supplier network, while being heavily involved in reinforcing the Group’s commitments in terms of Safety, Quality and Environment, notably through the emblematic project that enabled L’Oréal China to become Carbon Neutral in 2019.