Yesterday, according to report, The Estée Lauder Cos. has named René Lammers, Ph.D., as executive vice president and chief research and innovation officer, effective Oct. 1. Reporting directly to chief executive officer Stéphane de La Faverie, Lammers’ appointment marks the completion of de La Faverie’s executive leadership team.
Lammers joins from PepsiCo, where he most recently served as executive vice president and chief science officer, overseeing global R&D. Earlier in his career, he held senior roles at Unilever, developing technologies across personal care, home care and laundry. His cross-industry expertise reflects de La Faverie’s strategy of bringing in top talent from outside traditional beauty, a path he previously took when appointing Nestlé’s Aude Gandon as 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,” said de La Faverie. “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.”
In his new role, Lammers will oversee the company’s global R&D capabilities, including product and clinical innovation, scientific affairs, regulatory strategy and upstream technologies. He will lead Estée Lauder’s global network of R&D and Innovation Centers, with an emphasis on accelerating speed-to-market in high-demand categories—an area analysts have highlighted as critical for the company’s growth.
His appointment follows a series of key leadership moves under de La Faverie, including Jane Hertzmark Hudis as executive vice president, chief brand officer; Tara Simon as president, The Americas; and Amber English as 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.
