A knight, a man of integrity, the leader of L’Oréal’s transformation from a major French export player into a global behemoth with a diversified management and globalized portfolio of brands.
Indeed, Lindsay Owen-Jones’ act as ceo of the $17.7 billion cosmetics giant will be a tough one to follow. But Jean-Paul Agon — in his congenial, low-key and ingratiating way — is up for the challenge of building on the Owen-Jones formula.
In February, Owen-Jones, 59, said Agon, 49, would succeed him as ceo of the world’s largest beauty company. Owen-Jones, who joined L’Oréal 36 years ago, is expected to remain chairman and ceo until Agon, who has spent his entire 27-year career at L’Oréal, becomes ceo in April.
At that time, Owen-Jones will become president of the board and nonexecutive chairman, helping to oversee corporate governance and strategic options for the company.
L’Oréal announced in March that Agon’s successor as president and ceo of L’Oréal USA would be Laurent Attal, 47, a 19-year veteran of L’Oréal who had been head of the company’s active cosmetics division, which includes the Vichy, La Roche Posay and Innéov brands. Attal took the reigns of L’Oréal USA on July 1.
Agon, who has also worked for L’Oréal in Greece, France, Germany, China and Japan, sees opportunity in emerging markets. “Take China,” Agon said during the summer. “We started the business in 1997. It’s growing very fast, but we are still quite small, so the potential for growth is infinite.” He also pointed to “opportunities” in Brazil, Russia and India.
As Owen-Jones begins to think more about greener pastures — an intention he signaled as early as 2002, when he spoke of identifying a successor by the time he turned 60 — the list of accolades for the man who spent 17 years as ceo of L’Oréal grows longer.
Most recently, he received the International Leadership Award from the Anti-Defamation League in New York. Also this year, the Welshman was knighted Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth.
It’s all in a day’s work when creating a global superpower.