Fabrizio Freda

President and Chief Executive Officer

Fabrizio Freda is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Estée Lauder Companies, the global leader in prestige beauty. He joined the company in March 2008 as President and Chief Operating Officer and assumed the CEO position in July 2009. As President and CEO, Mr. Freda is responsible for the company’s overall vision and strategy, financial objectives and investment priorities. He is also a member of the company’s Board of Directors. Under his leadership, the company’s multiple engines of growth have delivered record sales and enabled profitable growth. Mr. Freda is a strategically-focused, financially-disciplined, results-oriented leader with a proven track record in the consumer products industry. Prior to joining The Estée Lauder Companies, Mr. Freda had an impressive 20-year career at Procter & Gamble (P&G), where he was responsible for numerous operating, marketing and strategic efforts spanning different geographies and categories. He held positions of increasing responsibility in the Health and Beauty Care and Global Snacks divisions at P&G, with his last role as President, Global Snacks. Mr. Freda serves on both the Board of Directors of BlackRock Inc. and the Advisory Board of the Global Business Initiative at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Mr. Freda has been presented with Italy’s Cavaliere del Lavoro by President Sergio Mattarella, and has been named to Barron’s exclusive list of the World’s Best CEO’s.

Q&A

What excites you about coming to work each day?

I come to work every day excited and happy to be here. And it’s because of the people, it’s because of the competitive spirits that we have, the creativity and innovation and new ideas, and frankly because of the intellectual challenge — it’s fantastic. There’s an amazing mix of historic strengths and future potential that fuels our efforts.

Can you explain the concept of “leadership from every chair?”

“Leadership from every chair” means leadership from each person in the company, even if they started yesterday. It is leadership that comes from engagement and participation, not from authority. It stems from our deep-rooted commitment to employee education and to developing future leaders. Providing employees the opportunity to continuously learn is extremely important to us and to the future of our organization. By listening to the unique perspectives of our employees we are better able to recognize and respond to the changing beauty needs of our global consumers.

Tell us about your leadership style.

I tend to lead by example. I really never ask people to do something that I’m not willing to do myself. I believe in setting a vision that reflects the Company’s market position and aspirations for future success. With a vision in place, we determine the results we want to generate 3, 5 and 10 years from now and we develop a strategy to get there. And then, we get to work. It’s a reverse engineering process versus a continuous improvement approach. We set the challenge at the beginning of the journey, and at the end, it’s important to acknowledge and thank everyone for what they’ve done to make it happen.

Why is luxury/prestige beauty a good business proposition?

Luxury cosmetics is a great industry, and it’s an exciting time to be a leader in this business. Prestige beauty is a large market — $100 billion and forecasted to grow by 4 to 5 percent in the next few years. And, it’s changing at a faster pace than ever before. We are witnessing a significant transformation in the world — much of which is led by women — and that is having an impact on the prestige beauty business. More women have joined the global workforce, and the growing 65+ population has more disposable income for use on luxury goods. And, with the rise of the millennial consumer, we’re seeing a revolution in where and how frequently women shop, requiring us to reimagine the retail experience.

How does the Company maintain relevance in a rapidly evolving global economy?

We recognize the diversity of the world we live in, and we understand the need to celebrate beauty, not standardize it. We create products, services and experiences that meet the specific needs of diverse consumers, and we aim to provide world class products that have local relevance in each market. To us, diversity is not a source of complexity but a gift of opportunity. With our multiple engines of growth across brands, demographics, geographies and channels, our capacity for creativity and innovation, and our ability to tailor products to meet the tastes of a highly diverse consumer base, I believe The Estée Lauder Companies is ideally positioned to succeed in this globalized, evolving world.

Describe what it is like to lead a company that has strong family leadership and family values.

I’ve worked for a number of global public companies — from mass to high-end luxury and prestige — and I can tell you that family businesses are the best. It’s a special advantage in the luxury space, because the authenticity and deep commitment to quality cannot be matched. Family companies are focused on and invest in the long term. They focus on the enduring success of the company. At our company, family values are embedded deeply in the culture. I feel privileged to serve as a nonfamily member CEO at The Estée Lauder Companies. Our success will always reflect the family’s passion, patience, obsession with quality, warmth, respect and commitment to be the best for generations to come.