Estée Lauder Taps René Lammers to Lead Research, Innovation
The Estée Lauder Cos. has hired René Lammers as its EVP, chief research and innovation officer.
Lammers is tasked with leading the company's global research and innovation strategy, implementing upstream tech within science-based platforms to elevate performance, quality, safety and sustainability.
As part of this, he will oversee all of the company's research and innovation centers to accelerate time-to-market and jump on timely trends. He will also work with academic partners within the biotechnology and longevity science spaces to help drive external innovation.
Lammers was hired for his expertise in deep science combined with a consumer-first mindset, which aligns with Estée Lauder's Beauty Reimagined transformation priorities.
More: Learn about Estée Lauder's "biggest organizational transformation"
“René is an exceptional and innovative leader whose deep scientific expertise, global perspective and passion for cutting-edge product development will be instrumental as we transform our approach to research and innovation to more fully align with our focus on consumer centricity,” said president and CEO Stéphane de La Faverie in a statement.
“With René’s leadership, we are elevating our capabilities to deliver even more breakthrough new products as well as on-trend innovation more quickly across prestige price tiers," he added.
Company Restructure
This leadership move completes the executive team following a series of appointments. Lammers will report directly to de La Faverie.
The new team will help support enterprise-wide upgrades that focus on a renewed channel and market strategy and a reorganized geographic structure.
The executive team reporting to de La Faverie now consists of:
- René Lammers, EVP, Chief Research & Innovation Officer
- Brian Franz, Chief Technology, Data & Analytics Officer
- Aude Gandon, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer
- Michael Bowes, Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer
- Roberto Canevari, Executive Vice President, Chief Value Chain Officer
- Amber English, President, Digital & Online, The Americas
- Joy Fan, President and CEO, China
- Nadine Graf, President, EMEA, UK & I, and Emerging Markets
- Matthew Growdon, President, APAC and Travel Retail Worldwide
- Carl Haney, Executive Vice President, Global Innovation and Research and Development
- Jane Hertzmark Hudis, Executive Vice President, Chief Brand Officer
- Rashida La Lande, Executive Vice President, General Counsel
- Akhil Shrivastava, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
- Tara Simon, President, The Americas
- Meridith Webster, Executive Vice President, Global Communications and Public Affairs
More About Lammers
Lammers joins the company from PepsiCo, where he most recently served as EVP and chief science officer. In that role, he oversaw a 3,000-person global R&D organization to create and scale food and beverage innovation. He helped build PepsiCo’s science and technology roadmap, which blends a scientific approach with consumer insights.
Before that, he held senior leadership roles at Unilever, where he developed innovation tech across the personal care, home care and laundry categories, establishing innovation hubs across Europe and Asia.
