The Estée Lauder Companies Appoints Dr. René Lammers as Chief Research & Innovation Officer
This appointment completes the executive team and underscores the company’s commitment to accelerating its innovation pipeline in a competitive, fast-evolving beauty market.
USA – The Estée Lauder Companies has named Dr. René Lammers as Executive Vice President and Chief Research & Innovation Officer, effective October 1, 2025.
Reporting directly to CEO Stéphane de La Faverie and joining the executive team, Dr. Lammers will lead the global evolution of Estée Lauder’s Research & Innovation capabilities.
His remit includes product and clinical innovation, scientific affairs, regulatory strategy, and upstream technologies across the company’s portfolio.
Dr. Lammers is tasked with transforming Estée Lauder’s approach to research and innovation, focusing on accelerating trend-driven, fast-to-market product launches and strengthening collaborations with academic and scientific institutions.
He will advance external innovation partnerships, particularly in biotechnology and longevity science.
His leadership aims to elevate product performance, quality, safety, and sustainability, aligning with the company’s strategic vision under its Beauty Reimagined plan.
CEO Stéphane de La Faverie praised Dr. Lammers, stating, “René is an exceptional and innovative leader whose deep scientific expertise, global perspective, and passion for cutting-edge product development will be instrumental as we transform our approach to research and innovation to align with our focus on consumer centricity more fully.”
Dr. Lammers brings nearly 30 years of experience from senior roles at PepsiCo and Unilever. Most recently at PepsiCo, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer, overseeing a 3,000-person global R&D organization and leading breakthrough innovations that combined scientific rigour with consumer insights.
His background in organic chemistry and global innovation leadership positions him to help Estée Lauder create transformative new products and reinforce its legacy of scientific excellence and consumer trust.
Estée Lauder FY 2025 performance highlights
Estée Lauder recently reported a challenging fiscal year 2025, marked by an 8% decline in sales to USD 14.326 billion and a significant net loss of USD 1.133 billion.
This performance continues a three-year decline trend, primarily driven by socio-economic pressures and weakening consumer demand, particularly in the United States and China, which are its key markets.
The company’s skincare category remained its top-selling segment with revenue of USD 7.0 billion, though it declined 12% compared to the previous year.
Makeup sales, affected mainly by slower performance from the MAC brand, totalled about USD 4.3 billion, while fragrances remained steady at USD 2.49 billion.
Hair care sales further declined to USD 565 million.
Regionally, the U.S. and Latin America led with sales around USD 4.41 billion, followed by Europe, Korea, and the Middle East at USD 3.57 billion, Asia Pacific at USD 3.6 billion, and mainland China at USD 2.74 billion.
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