The Estée Lauder Companies announced that Peter Jueptner, Group President, International, has made the decision to step down from his leadership position as of April 1, 2025.
Estée Lauder Group President-International, Peter Jueptner, will step down on April 1, 2025
Estée Lauder announced that its Group President-International, Peter Jueptner, will step down on April 1, 2025 and officially leave the company on June 30, 2025 concluding his sixteen-year tenure at the group. His replacement has not been announced.
“Peter has made many essential contributions to shaping and growing our business worldwide during his sixteen years with The Estée Lauder Companies,” said Stéphane de La Faverie, President and CEO. “I want to personally wish him the best in his next chapter. His legacy of growth, innovation, and strategic leadership, as well as his passion for nurturing and developing talent, will continue to inspire us…”
Estee Lauder has been in the news due to its restructuring. A new chief executive officer, Stéphane de La Faverie, was announced in October 2024. Per BoF: “De La Faverie’s appointment is the capstone on a company-wide shakeup that’s seen incumbent chief executive and chief financial officers Freda and Travis announce their retirements, William P. Lauder and Jane Lauder, two of the founder’s grandchildren, step down as executive chair and chief digital officer, respectively.”
Peter Jueptner’s career trajectory
Peter Jueptner was born in Germany and attended the University in Karlsruhe, receiving an undergraduate degree in Information Technology and Industrial Engineering. He graduated with an MBA in Marketing and Finance from Vanderbilt University in the United States. Today, he is based in New York City.
Peter Jueptner has an impressive resume. He started his career with the Boston Consulting Group, following which he held executive roles at North American grocery retailer A&P and Campbell Soup Company. Peter then served as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Mergers and Acquisitions at Philip Morris International, where he was a key change agent in developing new business strategies to drive organisational effectiveness.
The turning point n his career was when he joined The Estée Lauder Companies in 2009 as Senior Vice President, Strategy, New Business Development and Transformation Initiatives. In this role, he created many of the structures, frameworks, and strategic principles that guided the company through a period of extraordinary growth. He also helped to shape the Company’s portfolio through strategic M&A, leading on numerous brand acquisitions including Le Labo, Dr.Jart+, and Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle.
Peter Jueptner was a transformative leader.
In 2016, Peter was promoted to President, EMEA and relocated to Paris to lead the Company’s most culturally and economically complex multi-market region. During his tenure, Peter was a transformative leader, encouraging affiliates to leverage our full portfolio of brands to win with a broad range of consumers. This led to numerous instances of growth and prestige beauty share gain in many markets and channels. He also ably led the region during the most challenged times of the pandemic.
In 2022, Peter was promoted to Group President, International, expanding the commercial principles he used to transform EMEA to a worldwide scale. In the face of considerable headwinds, Peter began the crucial transformation of the global commercial organization that continues today, as we evolve into a more agile organization able to respond with focus and precision to consumer needs across geographies and channels.
Throughout his career with the Company, Peter has been deeply committed to fostering talent and promoting a culture of diversity, inclusivity, and equity. An energetic and inspiring leader, Peter’s team-building abilities and close partnerships with executives across the enterprise have fueled the success of the Company’s International business.
“Peter has made many essential contributions to shaping and growing our business worldwide during his sixteen years with The Estée Lauder Companies,” said Stéphane de La Faverie, President and CEO. “I want to personally wish him the best on his next chapter. His legacy of growth, innovation, and strategic leadership, as well as his passion for nurturing and developing talent, will continue to inspire us for years to come.”
About The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
One of the world’s leading manufacturers, marketers and sellers of quality skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care, and a steward of luxury and prestige beauty brands worldwide, Estee Lauder was conceived in 1946 when Estée and her husband Joseph Lauder retailed four skincare products developed in the kitchen. It was based on a simple premise: every woman can be beautiful. Armed with that philosophy, perseverance and passion, she changed the face of the global cosmetics industry.
Estée Lauder is based on a simple premise: every woman can be beautiful
The business took shape when Estée started selling skincare and makeup in salons. In 1946 she and Joseph Lauder launched the company, and a year later they got their first major order: $800 worth of products from Saks Fifth Avenue, New York. Estée believed in the mantra, “Telephone, Telegraph, Tell a Woman.” She had instincts for what women wanted and was the consummate saleswoman and marketer. Estee believed that to make a sale, you had to touch the consumer, show her the results on her face and explain the products. That was the start of the company’s personal service: High-Touch.
Once the brand began advertising, Estée insisted that the print images be aspirational and approachable and selected one model to represent the face of the brand at any given time. She picked the pale turquoise colour for the brand’s jars, believing it conveyed a sense of luxury. Estée attended the opening of every new store and stayed for a week to instruct her beauty advisors on sales techniques and merchandise display.
Over the next decade, the duo expanded the range and in 1960, opened their first overseas store in Harrods, London. The following year, they opened an office in Hong Kong. In 1964, Aramis was introduced: a line of fragrance and male grooming products. As a visionary, Estée Lauder was honoured with several awards during her career including France’s Legion of Honor and Gold Medal of the City of Paris. In 1968, Estée Lauder was awarded Spirit of Achievement from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
That year, the company launched Clinique, a dermatologist-guided, allergy-tested, fragrance-free cosmetics and skincare brand. It became the first women’s cosmetic company to introduce a line for men in 1976, titled “Skin Supplies for Men”.
“Our portfolio strategy includes growing existing brands and discovering new high-potential acquisitions that align with our values and offer a long-term outlook for success,” says Fabrizio Freda, President and CEO. “To maintain our leadership position, we nurture and preserve each brand’s distinctive identity and purpose. At the same time, we leverage our global distribution, creative resources and operational expertise across all our brands.”
In 1981 the products were being retailed in the Soviet Union. In the nineties, brand acquisitions and licensing agreements contributed to its growth as the company transformed from a family-owned business to a public family-controlled organisation. Brand acquisitions began with an investment in M•A•C Cosmetics in 1994, which the company acquired in 1998. Bobbi Brown Cosmetics and La Mer were acquired in 1995. The company ventured into hair care and holistic beauty brands with Aveda in 1997 and renowned fragrance house Jo Malone London was acquired in 1999.
On November 16, 1995, The Estée Lauder Companies went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Estée passed away at her home in Manhattan on April 24, 2004. The company continued with its acquisitions full steam in the following years and bought a majority interest in Bumble And Bumble hair care salon. an exclusive global licensing agreement was signed with fashion designer Michael Kors and fashion designer Tom Ford inked a deal to develop and distribute fragrance and cosmetics under Tom Ford Beauty.
Diversification was a top goal across price points and product categories. On July 1, 2010, the company acquired Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics, Inc. On October 28, 2011 Aramis and Designer Fragrances- a division of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.- and Tory Burch LLC collaborated for the global license of Tory Burch fragrance. This alliance marked Tory Burch’s debut in the beauty industry. In 2012, the company launched Aerin Beauty: a luxury lifestyle beauty and fragrance brand.
In 2014 the company acquired Rodin Olio Lusso, a skin care brand acclaimed for its “Luxury Face Oil,” and Le Labo, a fragrance brand. That year, the company made its first investment in India with a minority stake in Forest Essentials, specialising in Ayurvedic products. In 2015, the company acquired Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, a fragrance brand, and GlamGlow, a skincare brand.
The following year, it acquired Becca Cosmetics, its first colour cosmetic group acquisition since Smashbox. In November, the company made its largest acquisition, acquiring California-based cosmetics company Too Faced for a reported US$1.45 billion. And in 2019, Dr. Jart+, which pioneered the BB Cream.
However Estée Lauder’s winning streak was curtailed due to the global pandemic and profits declined in the first quarter of 2020 due to store closures and decline in travel retail. Jane Hertzmark Hudis, Executive Group President, is focusing on reforming Estée Lauder into a digitally empowered beauty brand and expanding online marketing and services.
The company has increased emphasis on its skincare products, which remains the fastest growing category in beauty, as people are focusing on self-care. But the core values Estee Lauder embodied are more relevant to women than ever before. Today the company engages with women in over a hundred and fifty countries and territories — both in stores and online. And each relationship consistently reflects Estée’s authentic convictions and unique point of view.
Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country’s advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
