Dive Brief:t

• Skin- and bodycare brand Sol de Janeiro appointed Colgate-Palmolive alum Elaine Paik to the role of CFO, and appointed Nielsen veteran Laurie Lovett as its chief people and impact officer, the company announced in a Friday press release. In 2021, Sol de Janeiro became a majority-owned subsidiary of the body care retailer L’Occitane Group.
• Paik will also lead the company’s legal and IT teams, according to the press release. Lovett, meanwhile, will be responsible for leading human resources, social impact, and ESG.
• Both executives will report to CEO and founder Heela Yang, the company said Friday, noting the appointments of Paik and Lovett mean 71% of its C-suite is now comprised of women. The appointments also “mark a pivotal moment for Sol de Janeiro as it scales beyond its $1B milestone toward its next era,” the company said.

Dive Insight:

Paik is jumping to the New York-based skincare brand just over a year after becoming CFO of the meatless food company Impossible Foods last January. Her previous roles include serving as finance chief for JUUL Labs, and in various top executive and financial positions during a 25-year career at Colgate-Palmolive, including as its VP and corporate treasurer, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Lovett has served in various executive roles including as global chief people officer for data analytics company Nielsen and global chief human resources officer for Verisk Analytics, according to her LinkedIn profile. She served in a variety of positions during a 20-year span at Accenture, and currently serves on the board of consultant firm West Monroe.

Both executives are joining the company during a period of “continued momentum,” Sol de Janeiro said Friday, with the brand reporting skyrocketing sales last year. Founded in 2015, Sol de Janeiro has swiftly established a place in the expanding skincare and beauty market with popular products such as its Brazilian Bum Bum Cream — becoming the top selling brand in beauty chain Sephora last year, according to a November report by Fast Company.

For its fiscal full-year 2024, the brand reported net sales totaling €686.1 million, representing more than a two-fold jump from the €267 million it reported for full-year 2023, according to a financial report published in February 2024.

Sol de Janeiro “achieved triple digit sales growth globally and was the largest contributor to our profitability,” L’Occitane Group said in the report. The Geneva, Switzerland-based L’Occitane, which went private in October, attributed the brand’s growth to new product launches and “continued strategic expansion of distributions including the entrance into a significant multi-brand partner in the US and overperformance of wholesale channels.”

Sol de Janeiro did not comment beyond its Friday press release. Impossible Foods did not respond to requests for comment on whether the company has appointed an interim or permanent successor to Paik as CFO.