Rabain announces retirment from L’Oreal

PARIS L’Oreal has announced that Patrick Rabain, executive vice president of consumer products, will retire at the end of February.

“Patrick Rabain is clearly one of the major figures in the history of L’Oreal. Working closely from his early days with Lindsay Owen-Jones, he played a leading role in our company’s development throughout a career entirely devoted to consumer products, driving its growth tremendously by maximizing the power of its major brands and successfully rolling them out on all continents,” stated Jean-Paul Agon, chief executive officer.

Rabain began his career at L’Oreal in 1973 as head of marketing studies at L’Oreal Paris. He was successively appointed marketing director of L’Oreal Paris, director of L’Oreal United Kingdom, director of L’Oreal Germany and director of consumer products France. Since 1996, he has held his current role.

Succeeding Rabain is Jean-Jacques Lebel, executive vice president of professional products.

Lebel joined L’Oreal in 1981 as managing director of L’Oreal Paris in Great Britain. He was then appointed managing director of Laboratoires Garnier France, director of L’Oreal United Kingdom and managing director of the Latin America zone. In 2001, he became executive vice president of professional products.

Nicolas Hieronimus is succeeding Lebel at the professional products division.

Hieronimus joined the marketing department of Garnier and Gemey/Maybelline at the age of 23 and was appointed in 1993 marketing director of Laboratoires Garnier in France, and then managing director of Garnier/Maybelline in Great Britain, before becoming managing director of L’Oreal Paris France. In 2000, he became the first international managing director of the L’Oreal Paris brand. From 2005 to 2007, he was in charge of L’Oreal Mexico. In January 2008, he was appointed managing director of the professional products division.