Wella Company has hired Gretchen Koback Pursel as its new as global chief people officer effective immediately.
According to the hair care business, which operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 6,000 members of staff, the appointment underscores its growth plan, which began last year when it returned to an independent operating status.
Koback Pursel has extensive experience running human resources for large global public companies and most recently held the position as chief human resources officer at Tiffany & Co, where she led the people agenda during the business’ transformation during her time there, which spanned two decades.
She also has expertise in developing values-led organisations by creating new structures and capabilities to support peoples’ growth and unlock their potential. Koback Pursel is a “passionate” advocate of diversity, equality and inclusion, and will be leading Wella Company’s efforts to be an industry leader in these areas.
Annie Young-Scrivner, CEO of Wella Company, explained that as the organisation pursues its goal of unlocking the full potential of its brands and business, it is focused on building upon its strong foundation of sustainable growth, and believes Koback Pursel brings “an astute ability to build and develop great talent".
“[Her] experience across global public companies and their consumer, digital and broadbased business transformation expertise will be invaluable to our organisation. The diverse perspectives and capabilities [she] brings to the company will be instrumental to guiding Wella Company’s next phase of growth, and we are ready to unleash our ambition to be the best beauty company in the industry,” she said.
Young-Scrivner added that the following this appointment, the business is confident that it is well positioned across its big bets of product innovation pipeline, significant investment in digital, and reaching more customers and consumers across new geographies and retail, ecommerce and professional channels.
