Updated on April 25 at 4:59 p.m. EST

Kering Beauté is bullish on beauty within the Americas — and has named a recent president and chief executive officer of the market.

Alexandre Choueiri, who had spent greater than twenty years at L’Oréal, will likely be taking over the newly created role of president and CEO, Kering Beauté Americas.

A joint memo from Kering Beauté CEO Raffaella Cornaggia and Creed CEO Sarah Rotheram, sent Wednesday, announced the hire to retailers within the U.S. and noted Choueiri’s experience in L’Oréal’s Luxe division, most recently as global brand president of Ralph Lauren Fragrances. “During his tenure, he implemented a method of brand name elevation and a deal with retail flagships, pop-up stores and digital innovation,” the memo read. “He also served as global president of Ralph Lauren fragrances and a member of L’Oréal Luxe’s executive committee. He contributed to the elevation and turnaround of the brand, and its successful expansion into recent markets. We’re in great hands with Alex, who will oversee the Americas.”

Choueiri wrote a straightforward “I’m comfortable to share that I’m starting a recent position as CEO and president, Kering Beauté Americas,” on LinkedIn.

The memo also noted pieces of Kering Beauté’s strategy within the U.S., and revealed that Kering has absorbed Creed distributor ICP. Thomas Saujet, CEO and president of the distribution business, “has taken the choice to maneuver on to a recent chapter in his profession,” the memo said.

“To be clear, Creed will proceed to be the highest priority of our business, and in the long run, we are going to actively support recent brands throughout the Kering Beauté portfolio,” the memo continued. “Thomas and Alex will likely be transitioning over the following three months and we will likely be in contact with you shortly. Please join us in warmly thanking Thomas for his impressive 27 years of service on House of Creed and congratulating Alex for his recent position.”

Beauty stays a vivid spot as Kering weathers a challenged luxury market. As reported, the corporate saw sales slide — and predicted double-digit profit drops — in the primary quarter. Nevertheless, Kering eyewear and company, which houses Kering Beauté, grew 9 percent in comparable sales in the identical time period.

At Kering’s annual general meeting Thursday in Paris, chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault said Kering Beauté now employs 27 people, led by Raffaella Cornaggia, the worldwide CEO of the division. 

He said the group’s priority was to bring back in-house its beauty licenses, which it has already done for Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Pomellato and Qeelin. He declined to comment on the status of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, whose beauty licenses are held by Coty Inc. and L’Oréal, respectively.

“For contractual reasons, I’m not at liberty to reveal when our other licenses will come up for renewal, however the priority will likely be to bring them back in-house,” he said. 

As reported, Kering plans to launch a high-end fragrance range for Bottega Veneta next fall, to be followed by Balenciaga and McQueen perfumes in 2025.

“We’re going to begin with the highest of the pyramid,” he said of its fragrance strategy. 

“We will likely be launching the primary fragrances for all our licenses on this segment with a purpose to have stronger visibility and desirability by having extremely exclusive distribution networks when our fragrances hit the market. We’ll subsequently launch perfumes within the prestige category where most major luxury brands operate,” Pinault added. 

He said Creed posted revenues of around 300 million euros last 12 months and had a really high profit margin. Kering sees strong potential for the brand to grow due to women’s scents, just like the recently launched Queen of Silk, and geographical expansion, especially in Asia.