Jeff Houghton To Become New CEO of L’Oréal-Owned ModiFace

Montreal, 13 September 2022 – Jeff Houghton has been appointed the new Chief Executive Officer of ModfiFace, the Toronto-based Augmented Reality (AR) beauty leader, acquired by the group in 2018. He will begin his new role on 1 October 2022.

Founder and current CEO of ModiFace Parham Aarabi has expressed his desire to focus on a personal area of research interest and will be stepping down from his current role. Under Aarabi’s leadership, ModiFace has developed proprietary technologies for facial features video tracking, applied in Virtual Try-On (VTO) for make-up and hair coloration, as well as skin diagnosis, resulting in over 30 patents and more than 200 scientific publications over the past few years. 

Jeff Houghton has been ModiFace’s Chief Operating Officer since 2019. He joined ModiFace in 2016, developing new augmented reality effects and collaborating on innovations such as new face trackers and virtual try on solutions. After ModiFace was acquired by L'Oréal in 2018, Houghton began to oversee the ModiFace roadmap and in his current role has been managing the day-to-day operations of the company in various functions. In addition to his strong tech skills in computer vision, AI and applications development, Houghton is recognized as being a pragmatic problem solver, innovative and people-centric.

 “I am extremely excited to take on the challenge of leading ModiFace as our new Chief Executive Officer,” Houghton said. “We've built a diverse team of researchers, scientists and engineers by taking advantage of the talent Canada has to offer. ModiFace has spent more than a decade exploring cutting-edge technology to bring beauty experiences to consumers. I want to ensure that in this next chapter, ModiFace can focus not only on continuing to scale our existing solutions, but also bring new innovation to L'Oréal. I am looking forward to expanding our collaborations with L'Oréal experts around the world to ensure our technology is setting the bar for the future of beauty tech."

“On Behalf of L’Oréal Canada, I would like to extend my deepest thanks to Parham. All of our support goes to Jeff and his team for this new chapter,” said An Verhulst-Santos, L’Oréal Canada President and CEO. “ModiFace’s advanced know-how, combined with over 100 years of L’Oréal expertise, has led us to establish leadership in the augmented reality beauty arena with more than 1 billion virtual shade try-ons and 10 million skin diagnostics performed to date.”

A three-month transition will take place until 1 January 2023. Following that date, ModiFace and L’Oréal will have Parham Aarabi’s continued support as an external consultant focusing on innovation, R&D and tech talents attractiveness topics.

About L'Oréal Canada

L'Oréal Canada is a subsidiary of the L'Oréal Group, the world’s leading beauty company, managing 40 iconic beauty brands. Headquartered in Montreal since its creation in 1958, L’Oréal Canada operates a plant and distribution centre and employs more than 1,450 people from 70 nationalities. Products are available across all distribution channels including hair salons, department stores, mass market, pharmacies, medi-spas, e-commerce and more. L’Oréal Canada’s commitment to growth is generated through sustainable innovation and driven by the company’s L’Oréal for the Future ambition which demonstrates sustainable development across the Group’s value chain. The subsidiary also actively supports the L'Oréal Foundation’s programs such as L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science and Beauty for a Better Life.

Contact:

Laura Lovasik

[email protected]