Updated 3:09 p.m. ET on Feb. 9
PARIS — LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has appointed two new members of its executive committee, and simultaneously named a new Perfumes and Cosmetics chief.
Véronique Courtois is now chairman and chief executive officer of Parfums Christian Dior and of LVMH’s beauty division. She has been leading Parfums Christian Dior and joins the group’s executive committee. In her new role, she oversees the activities related to the group’s beauty division — which includes 16 brands, organized under Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain, LVMH Fragrance Brands and Kendo — while maintaining her position at Dior.
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“Building on her rich career within LVMH’s beauty maisons, Véronique Courtois has remarkably developed the activity and desirability of Parfums Christian Dior,” LVMH said in a statement released Monday evening. “Her experience and recognized leadership will be valuable assets for the maisons under her charge.”
Courtois succeeds Stéphane Rinderknech, who, according to LVMH, “has decided to leave the group to pursue new personal projects.”
Rinderknech had also been leading LVMH Hospitality, alongside the beauty division.
“Since joining the group. Stéphane Rinderknech has greatly contributed to the growth of our hospitality division before bringing his recognized expertise to the beauty business,” said Stéphane Bianchi, managing director of LVMH, in the statement. “I am thankful for his contribution and results, and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
It was also announced Monday that Antoine Arnault, director of image and environment at LVMH, joins the company’s executive committee. There, he continues to oversee image, communication and sustainable development projects, activities he has led since 2020.
Arnault was the architect of LVMH’s partnership with the 2024 Paris Olympics and created Les Journées Particulières, showcasing the group’s craftsmanship. Arnault initiated major communications campaigns for Louis Vuitton, and LVMH said that under his leadership, Berluti “became the quintessential menswear maison.”
“Particularly committed to sustainability, his unparalleled expertise within the group will be essential for the reputation and continuation of actions aimed at protecting the environment and biodiversity, which are central to the Life 360 roadmap,” LVMH said, referring to the company’s environmental performance plan.
The change at the helm of LVMH’s beauty business comes at a time when the activity has not been growing robustly in a buoyant category.
In 2025, the group’s Perfumes and Cosmetics division’s sales declined 3 percent in reported terms and were flat on an organic basis versus 2024 to 8.17 billion euros. That compares to the global beauty market’s sales in 2025 overall, which are estimated to have increased between 4 percent and 4.5 percent.
It was recently reported that LVMH has been exploring a sale of its 50 percent share of Fenty Beauty. That and the sale of KVD Beauty to Windsong Global in September 2025 has raised questions in the industry regarding whether other beauty brands launched with LVMH’s incubator Kendo Brands, including Lip Lab and Ole Henriksen, might be on the block soon.
In March 2023, Rinderknech was named chairman and CEO of LVMH’s Perfumes and Cosmetics division. For decades prior to that, there had been no one executive helming that division. The last person to have done that was Patrick Choël, who held the title of president of the division for six-and-a-half years, until retiring from the role in March 2004.
The grouping of all LVMH’s fragrance and cosmetics holdings under one executive’s purview came at a time when the beauty industry’s competitiveness was ramping up, especially as niche brands became hot commodities. That is true again today, with the ongoing rise of niche and indie beauty labels, as well as emerging geographic markets where domestic players are growing and are becoming competitors on the world stage.
Rinderknech joined LVMH as chairman and CEO of LVMH Hospitality Excellence from L’Oréal in 2022. That branch includes Hôtels Cheval Blanc and Belmond Hotels and trains. A seasoned beauty executive, Rinderknech spent most of his career at L’Oréal, lastly — between 2019 and 2022 — as the company’s president of the North America Zone, CEO of L’Oréal USA and a member of the group’s executive committee.
When Rinderknech stepped into the beauty role, Courtois became head of Parfums Christian Dior. At the time LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault lauded her for having significantly elevated the desirability of the house during the seven years in which she was in charge of its products and image. He underlined the success of Sauvage, the top-ranking fragrance, as an example of her contributions.
Previous to Dior, Courtois developed the house of Guerlain. She started her career at Beauté Prestige International and spent eight years with the Shiseido group before joining LVMH.