John Demsey is Executive Group President, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., a position he has held since January 2016. In this role, he oversees a wide portfolio of brands, including Clinique, M•A•C, TOM FORD BEAUTY, Jo Malone London, Smashbox, Prescriptives, Aramis & Designer Fragrances and the Men’s Skincare Group, as well as the Company’s recently acquired brands, Too Faced, BECCA, By Kilian, GLAMGLOW, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, Le Labo and RODIN olio lusso. In addition to his brand portfolio, Mr. Demsey oversees the newly established Creative Center of Excellence, focused on the ongoing advancement of creative capabilities and talent across the Company. Prior to serving as Executive Group President, John served as Group President, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., a position he held since 2006.
Mr. Demsey is a creative visionary, strategic thinker and accomplished brand builder. Throughout his career he has shown a unique ability to establish a brand’s authority, keep it fresh and respect its heritage. By continually developing innovative products, cultivating new markets and establishing an unprecedented link between beauty, fashion, entertainment, celebrity and pop culture, the brands he has led have enjoyed unparalleled growth and expansion.
Mr. Demsey joined The Estée Lauder Companies in 1991 as Vice President, Sales, for the Estée Lauder brand in its West Coast region, and was later promoted to SVP of Sales for the brand in 1993. He held several positions with the brand in the New York headquarters and in the field, and was instrumental in expanding its business and increasing market share.
In 1998, Mr. Demsey was appointed President of M•A•C. Mr. Demsey built the small, niche makeup artist brand into a global cosmetics powerhouse. Distribution expanded from 19 markets to more than 75 and, today, M•A•C is the top-ranked prestige makeup brand in the U.S. and is distributed in more than 105 countries/territories worldwide.
In January 2005, Mr. Demsey was named Global Brand President of Estée Lauder and M•A•C, and also assumed responsibility for Tom Ford Beauty and Prescriptives. Mr. Demsey revitalized the Estée Lauder brand’s image, signing new spokesmodels—most recently, Kendall Jenner—and focusing its growth on high-performance skin care in Asia, particularly China. For the past decade, Mr. Demsey has worked closely with fashion designer Tom Ford to create TOM FORD BEAUTY’s successful Private Blend and Signature fragrances and the Tom Ford Cosmetics Collection.
Mr. Demsey also serves as Chairman of the M•A•C AIDS Fund, which has raised more than $430 million to date in the fight against HIV/AIDS, spearheading the wildly successful M•A•C VIVA GLAM celebrity campaigns. Mr. Demsey is active in several other AIDS/health-related organizations.
Before joining The Estée Lauder Companies, Mr. Demsey was Vice President of Sales at the specialty division of Revlon, which included the Borghese, Alexandra de Markoff and Lancaster brands. He also held various executive merchandising positions with Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Benetton and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Mr. Demsey earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from New York University. He was inducted into the Fragrance Foundation Hall of Fame in 2015. He lives in New York City with his daughter.
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