There’s a new chief corporate responsibility officer in place at beauty group L’Oreal for the first time in 12 years.
Ezgi Barcenas joined the company this week from drinks company AB InBev, as Alexandra Palt works her last month in a position she has held for the last 12 years.
During her tenure as chief corporate responsibility officer, Palt helped L’Oreal define and work towards ambitious targets that aim to combat climate change and preserve biodiversity. She also introduced group- and industry-wide transparency initiatives such as Product Impact Labelling and the EcoBeautyScore.
In 2020, Palt launched ‘L’Oréal for the Future’, an operational roadmap for transforming the group’s business while respecting planetary boundaries and advocating for a just transition. Under her guidance, L’Oreal has also supported various positive-for-society initiatives via Fondation L’Oréal and the For Women in Sciences international awards programme.
She played a leading role in the L’Oréal Fund for Women, too, supporting grass-roots organisations fighting violence against women and promoting their empowerment worldwide.
In a long list of achievements as chief corporate responsibility officer, Palt also launched two impact investing funds, the L’Oréal Fund for Nature Regeneration and the Circular Innovation Fund. She will serve until 30 June 2024 as CEO of the Fondation L’Oréal and will then take a seat on the board of the Fondation L’Oréal.
Barcenas was chief sustainability officer at AB InBev and served as a member of the senior leadership team. During her ten years there she established and ran the global sustainability function, and mapped out AB InBev’s ambitious ‘net-zero by 2040’ ambitions.
Ezgi also oversaw her previous company’s start-up scheme, ‘100+ Accelerator’, now in its fifth year. She led cross-functional teams focused on agricultural development, water management, circular packaging and climate action – and was recently named on Time magazine’s ‘TIME100 Climate list’, in recognition of her influential role in business sustainability. She officially joined L’Oreal on 1 March.
Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L’Oréal Groupe, commented: “I would like to thank Alexandra for her engagement, which over the past 12 years has triggered a profound transformation of L’Oréal’s economic and societal model, deeply integrated with planetary boundaries as defined by environmental sciences.
“Her courage, energy and vision have enabled L’Oréal to become a pioneering enterprise, expert at delivering positive economic and extra-financial performance. The choice of Ezgi Barcenas, a recognised business and climate leader, to succeed Alexandra is a strong sign of L’Oréal’s reiterated commitment to its sustainability transformation and to social responsibility.”
Read more about L’Oreal on Green Retail World
[Image credit: Green Retail World]
