Coty names former Mars exec as new financial chief

Leading global beauty company Coty has appointed Patrice de Talhouët as CFO. He will replace Sergio Pedreiro who will stay on at Coty through March 2014 to provide a seamless transition for de Talhouët, as well as to complete Coty's fiscal 2014 second quarter earnings release.



As corporate finance officer Americas and a member of the finance executive committee for Mars, de Talhouët led a multiple-year program to transform the global finance function for the company, oversaw governance and compliance in the region and was dean of Mars University for Finance. The five years prior he served as CFO Europe for Mars Global Chocolate. Before joining Mars, he spent more than a decade in senior finance positions for Alcatel-Lucent. He started his career at Societe Generale bank where he spent four years.



He has bachelor degrees in economics and international management as well as a master's degree in finance, accounting and corporate law.



"I am very excited to welcome Patrice as Coty's new CFO. Patrice has a deep, well rounded profile and a proven, successful track record in leading large financial operations with premier multinational corporations," said Michele Scannavini, CEO, Coty. "He will be a strong addition to our executive team."



Pedreiro joined Coty during the 2009 global financial crisis and implemented a strategy that, according to the company, brought solid contributions to its earnings improvement and margin expansion. Pedreiro is also credited with strengthening governance and compliance.



"Along with Coty's executive team, I would like to acknowledge Sergio's many talents and thank him for his contributions to our profitable growth achieved throughout the past five years. We very much appreciated his business acumen along with his unique interpersonal skills. He will be missed and we wish him all the best for the future," added Scannavini.