Shiseido’s CEO for the Americas region Ron Gee has resigned.
The Japanese beauty giant has named EMEA CEO Alberto Noé as interim leader of the region on top of his current role.
Gee joined Shiseido Americas in 2016 as CFO and became President and CEO of the region in 2021.
He also led Shiseido’s global M&A activity.
The abrupt departure comes amid plunging profits for the owner of Nars and Drunk Elephant.
Shiseido’s annual operating profits slumped 73.1% last year due to a drop in consumer spending in key market China and travel retail.
Net sales in the Americas declined year-on-year, down 7% on a like-for-like basis, excluding the impacts of foreign exchange and business transfers, as well as the acquisition of Dr Dennis Gross Skincare
The company said in its latest annual financial results, published in February, that Nars and Tory Burch delivered year-on-year-growth.
Drunk Elephant “continued to suffer a slow recovery in sales subsequent to the temporary declines in production and shipments in the first half of the year”, adding that this stabilised in the third quarter.
Shiseido last month announced a shake-up of its business, merging its travel retail and China operations.
The restructure also saw the retirement of its travel retail CEO Philippe Lesné.
China CEO Toshinobu Umetsu was named leader of the newly combined units.
The move was part of the group’s broader transformation plan to revive flagging sales, centred around three objectives – reinforcing the brand’s foundation, rebuilding its profitability and enhancing operational governance.
Noé joined Shiseido in 2013 as CEO and President and has held a number of roles in the EMEA region, including Chief Business Officer, before becoming the region’s top boss last year.
Previously he was an executive at L’Oréal in Italy, including General Manager for Lancôme and YSL, and spent time at Chanel and LVMH.