Jane Lauder has been named global president and general manager of the Origins and Ojon divisions of the Estée Lauder Cos. Inc.
In her new role, Lauder will be responsible for the overall strategic direction, global development, management and growth of both brands. She will continue to report to Lynne Greene, the global president who oversees the Clinique, Origins and Ojon brands. Lauder also sits on the company’s board.
“It’s exciting to be able to add more responsibility for the direction of Origins and Ojon,” Lauder told WWD. She has served as senior vice president and general manager of the Origins brand since July 2008. “I believe overseeing both brands will give us the ability to leverage our knowledge in naturals — how we find and use ingredients for various categories, how we make them sustainable. Being responsible for both will offer flexibility in research and development and other areas.”
Lauder noted that Ojon, acquired by the company in 2007 and currently available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany and Australia, offers “significant potential” for growth, both in the U.S. and abroad. Origins is already expanding internationally; in March, the company began selling in Mainland China, and now has five doors in Shanghai and Beijing.
Lauder has also been instrumental in Origins’ reassertion of its Nineties identity — namely, as a high-performance, naturally based, ecologically friendly brand with skin care products billed as efficacious as those which are purely laboratory creations — with a number of initiatives, including the tag line “Powered by Nature, Proven by Science.” She has also worked to develop new merchandising programs — such as presenting products according to skin care concerns like redness rather than by product category or franchise — for Origins’ 130 stores and 400 department store doors in the U.S.
Prior to assuming her role at Origins, Lauder was senior vice president of global marketing at Clinique from 2006 to 2008. She also played a key role in creating and launching the American Beauty and Flirt brands as vice president of marketing for BeautyBank, the company’s think tank division.