The Estée Lauder Cos. Taps PepsiCo’s René Lammers as Chief Research & Innovation Officer

Stéphane de La Faverie, chief executive officer of the Estée Lauder Cos., has officially completed building out his executive team with his latest appointment.

René Lammers Ph.D. has been named executive vice president, chief research and innovation officer, effective Oct. 1, reporting directly to de La Faverie.

Lammers joins from PepsiCo, where he most recently served as executive vice president and chief science officer, overseeing global R&D. Prior to PepsiCo, he held senior leadership positions at Unilever, where he developed technologies across personal care, home care and laundry.

This is not the first time de La Faverie has looked outside the box for his executive team, previously tapping Nestlé’s Aude Gandonas chief digital and marketing officer.

“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,” de La Faverie said of his latest hire.

“Creating transformative innovation is integral to our strategic vision of Beauty Reimagined, and 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.”

As chief research and innovation officer, Lammers will lead the Estée Lauder Cos’ global R&D capabilities, including product and clinical innovation, scientific affairs, regulatory strategy and upstream technologies. As part of this, he’ll oversee the company’s R&D and Innovation Centers worldwide and place a focus on delivering fast-to-market, on-trend innovation across in-demand subcategories.

Boosting innovation and speed is key to de La Faverie’s strategy. Analysts previously cited the dearth of meaningful newness as a key factor holding the company back.

Lammers’ appointment also completes de La Faverie’s rounding out of his executive team. Other appointments include Jane Hertzmark Hudis, executive vice president, chief brand officer; Tara Simon, president, The Americas, and Amber English, president, digital and online, The Americas.

“With this appointment, I am excited that my executive team is now complete and positioned to lead the company into its next chapter of growth and transformation,” de La Faverie said.