J&J exec gets her Avon calling as new CEO

Jung announced she would become executive chairman at the cosmetics direct seller at the end of last year, opening up the search for a new CEO.

Career experience​

McCoy, 53, will assume leadership at Avon as of April 23, 2012, having enjoyed a 30 year career at Johnson & Johnson, where she responsible for skin care brand Neutrogena, amongst others.

"I am extremely honoured and excited to join Avon—a great company with an iconic brand and so much clear potential. I look forward to working with the team to develop and execute a roadmap to achieve the next phase of growth for the company,"​ said the new boss.

During her time at J&J, McCoy became vice chairman of the company's Pharmaceutical, Consumer, Corporate Office of Science & Technology, and Information Technology divisions.

In this capacity she served on J&J's Executive Committee with oversight for more than 60 per cent of the company’s $65bn (€50bn) in revenues, looking after brands such as Neutrogena, Aveeno, Lubriderm, Clean & Clear and ROC.

Extensive search​

“The Board conducted an extensive search among many world-class candidates across the direct selling, retail and consumer sectors, and Sheri emerged as the clear choice to take Avon into the future,”​ said Fred Hassan, lead director of Avon's Board.

“Given her consistent record of outperforming against new challenges, we have great confidence that under Sheri's leadership Avon can successfully execute against our strong long-term prospects."​

In addition to what Hassan had to say, Andrea Jung explained that the appointment of McCoy would drive the company forward, in what has been testing times.

"Sheri has had a demonstrated track record of successfully achieving results and driving change across highly diverse operating units with widely varying product lines, customers, distribution channels and business models,”​ said the executive chairman.

Coty bid​

The news comes a week after Avon was subject to a $10bn dollar takeover bid from cosmetics manufacturer Coty, which was rejected.

Avon rejected the bid claiming that Coty had ‘substantially undervalued’ the company. Coty has made numerous attempts in the past to engage Avon in discussions regarding its proposal, all of which were unsuccessful, prompting the company to make its proposal public in an attempt to show Avon's shareholders there is value in a transaction.