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With an Eye to the Future, Glossier Hires Three New Leaders

Glossier has set the gold standard for DTC success, but the retailer is not resting on its laurels as it expands in the brick-and-mortar space. The beauty brand is adding three new executives to its team: a CFO, an SVP of Retail and the new position of Chief Commercial Officer, who will help the team develop its plans for the future.

Seun Sodipo will take the CFO job in February 2022. Sodipo most recently led Product Finance and Strategy at Stripe and will bring her expertise in payments to Glossier’s Accounting and Finance teams. She also will draw upon prior experience at roles in private equity firms to help the retailer continue scaling its business. Current CFO Vanessa Wittman will help Sodipo transition into the position before retiring in spring 2022 to become a senior advisor.

Kyle Leahy will join the company on Nov. 29 as its first-ever Chief Commercial Officer. She has been with Cole Haan for the past nine years, including when it was part of Nike, in a combination of strategy, general management, ecommerce and retail leadership roles. Her most recent position was EVP and General Manager of North America.

At Glossier, Leahy will be responsible for driving revenue and building end-to-end customer experiences across channels as head of the Retail, Sales, International and Operations teams. She will work closely with Chief Marketing Officer Ali Weiss and Chief Technology Officer Pawan Uppuluri to help maintain the brand both online and offline.

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Kristy Maynes had joined Glossier as SVP of Retail October 11. Most recently, she spent 12 years at lululemon in multiple leadership roles, including as the GM of the first 40 lululemon stores in Canada. She also helped open lululemon in Europe and was with the company as it grew from $400 million to more than $6 billion in revenue.

Maynes will build on the momentum of the Glossier Seattle opening in late summer 2021 with the Los Angeles flagship opening scheduled for November 2021 and the London flagship later this year. She will lead Glossier’s retail expansion with a customer focus around fostering connection, community and discovery.

The three flagship stores will mark Glossier’s return to the brick-and-mortar space after shuttering all its stores in March 2020 due to the pandemic. Glossier is still a DTC-first company, with 80% of pre-pandemic sales coming through digital channels, but physical locations drew more than 1 million visitors in 2019 with an average conversion rate of 50%.

The addition of Maynes and Leahy’s experience with lululemon’s brick-and-mortar side could point to expansion for Glossier in this area. Omnichannel experiences have proven important in the current retail climate, and a high-touch area like beauty can benefit from the flexibility offered by the combination of physical and digital offerings.

“Our leaders play a critical role in shaping the growth and evolution of Glossier’s global brand and business as we build the future beauty company,” said Emily Weiss, Founder and CEO of Glossier in a statement. “I am incredibly proud of what this team has accomplished and know the best is yet to come.”

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