After seven successful years at L'Oréal Canada, Frank Kollmar is appointed as L’Oréal Group Global Deputy Managing Director for the Active Cosmetics Division

Montréal – June 23, 2021 – For immediate release – Effective July 1^st, in agreement with the L’Oréal Group's General Management, Mr. Frank Kollmar will be entrusted with the strategic position of Deputy Managing Director for the Active Cosmetics Division at the worldwide level.

Mr. Kollmar joined the L’Oréal Group in Canada in 1999. He was appointed Managing Director of the Active Cosmetics Division of L’Oréal Canada in 2001 and then in 2003, he became Managing Director for Vichy in Germany. In 2005, he took over the responsibility of the Consumer Products Division in Austria and then took over the management of Garnier-Maybelline in Germany in 2006. In June 2011, Frank moved back to Canada as Managing Director of the Consumer Products Division before moving on to his current position as President and CEO in February 2014.

Under his leadership, L’Oréal Canada established itself among the top 10 L’Oréal Group subsidiaries, gaining record market shares, and launching with great success several brands such as essie, SkinCeuticals, CeraVe and IT Cosmetics in Canada. L'Oréal Canada also became one of the most advanced countries in terms of D2C online sales, successfully accelerating its digital transformation, developing know-how making it unique in data management and implementing recognized digital services.

Under his leadership, L'Oréal Canada has invested tens of millions of dollars to expand and modernize the Saint Laurent plant and distribution center, as well as the head office in downtown Montreal. 

Driven by a strong entrepreneurial and enquiring mindset, Mr. Kollmar has made his mark with his ability to detect new trends and test innovative approaches. He has successfully reorganized and modernized L’Oréal Canada’s structures so that it corresponds more closely to consumer and customer needs. Under his leadership, L’Oréal Canada has continued to grow talented and diversified teams.

Holding firm convictions in matters of transparency and inclusiveness, he has considerably promoted ethics as well as diversity and inclusion at L’Oréal Canada. Moreover, strongly committed to sustainable development, L’Oréal Canada’s operational sites became carbon neutral in 2017. He has also laid the foundations to reach ambitious targets by 2030 within the framework of the Group’s L’Oréal for the Future program.

Furthermore, under Frank Kollmar's leadership, many best practices were implemented, earning the company various awards, including the EDGE (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality) Certification, in professional gender equality between men and women on several occasions. L'Oréal Canada was the first company in Canada to receive this award. The titles of Top Employer in Montreal, Top Employer for Young People in Canada and Top Employer in Canada have also been awarded, year after year.

Mr. Kollmar also made his mark as a strong supporter of the community specifically with the Women’s Y Foundation of Montreal and the Women’s Centre of Montreal through various programs such as Beauty For a Better Life, a program that delivers free, high quality hairdressing training to vulnerable women, helping them improve their lives and employment prospects. Under his leadership, the first L’Oréal Canada professional internship program was created with Les Petits Rois Foundation, enabling 8 young adults with intellectual disabilities to come work at the L'Oréal Canada Head Office. Mr. Kollmar was recognized as well for his support of the arts as a past board member of Luminato until 2016 and a current member of the board for the Toronto international Film Festival (TIFF), as well as a member of the International Advisory Council to the Dean of Schulich School of Business.

Mr. Kollmar sat on the boards of GS-1 Canada; Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada (FHCP); the Cercle des Présidents du Québec; in which he held the chair of the Industrial Affairs board and was Chair of their programming committee.

It is Ms. An Verhulst-Santos who will succeed Mr. Kollmar as President & CEO of L'Oréal Canada. Ms. Verhulst-Santos was recently President of L’Oréal Brazil. She began her career with L'Oréal in 1991 in the Professional Products Division in Belgium. Between 2005 and 2009, she did an exemplary heading this same Division for L’Oréal Brazil.

In 2009 she transferred to the United States as head of the Division. From 2011 to 2016, she was a member of the Executive Committee of the L'Oréal Group as President of the Professional Products Division, reporting directly to CEO and Chairman, Jean-Paul Agon. She led the acquisition of the professional cosmetics brands Decléor and Carita, making the Division a global player in the professional beauty market. The Division's global positioning has strengthened, having continuously gained market share in the last years. Since 2017, An Verhulst-Santos has been leading a team of close to 3,600 employees as President & CEO of L’Oréal Brazil. She will officially take over as President & CEO of L’Oréal Canada on July 1^st, 2021.

About L'Oréal Canada

L’Oréal Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of L’Oréal Group, the largest cosmetics company in the world. Headquartered in Montreal, the company had sales of $1.18 billion in 2020 and employs more than 1,450 people. The company holds a portfolio of 36 brands, encompassing all aspects of beauty, and is present across all distribution networks: mass market, department stores, salons, pharmacies, drugstores, and branded retail. L'Oréal Canada, whose operations are carbon neutral, supports the L'Oréal Foundation’s programs such as L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science, which has promoted the advancement of women in science in Canada since 2003, Beauty for a better life, a social reintegration program in hairdressing for immigrant women since 2017.

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Media contact

Virginie Hotte-Dupuis

Manager External Relations & Philanthropy, L’Oréal Canada

[email protected]