Patrice Louvet

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Patrice Louvet
Patrice Louvet (born 1964) at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025.png
At the WEF Annual Meeting in 2025
Born1964 (age 6061)
Saint-Cloud, France
Alma mater ESCP Business School (MBA)
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (MBA)
OccupationBusiness executive
Years active1989–present
Employer Ralph Lauren
Board member of Bacardi Limited

Patrice Louvet (born 1964) is a French-born business executive based in New York City. [1] [2] The CEO and president of the Ralph Lauren Corporation [3] [4] [5] since July 2017, [6] [7] [4] began his career at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1989, [8] where he held numerous executive roles across Northeast Asia, [9] North America, and Europe. [10] In 2015 [9] he became group president of P&G's global beauty [11] and hair care units, [12] a role he held until June 2017. [1] He is on the board of Bacardi Limited. [8]

Contents

Early life and education

Patrice Jean Louis Louvet [9] was born in 1964 [1] in Saint-Cloud, France. [2] He spent four years of his childhood in Princeton, New Jersey with his family as a result of his father heading the U.S. subsidiary of a French chemical company. [1] In 1986, [9] Louvet graduated from ESCP Europe with a master's degree in business administration (MBA) and earned a second MBA [8] from the University of Illinois in 1987. [1] During his graduate studies, he served as a marketing professor for undergraduate students and authored the book Overcoming Barriers to Entering the US Market. [10] From 1987 until 1989, he briefly served as a naval officer and aide-de-camp to an Admiral in the French Navy. [1]

Career

1989-2010

In 1989, Louvet joined P&G's marketing department in France [8] and was appointed marketing director for Pantene's global franchise [1] in Cincinnati, Ohio [13] ten years later. In 2002, [12] he moved to Japan [10] to become P&G's general manager for health care and hair care in northeast Asia, [9] returning to North America [10] to spend four years in P&G's hair colorant division. [14] In 2005, [12] he became vice president of global hair colorants, running the Clairol [15] and Wella brands from Stamford, Connecticut. [10]

In March [12] 2008 he transferred to Geneva, Switzerland [10] as vice president of future strategy and growth for the global prestige products unit of P&G. From 2010 [16] to 2011, he was president of the unit, overseeing fragrances, [14] skin care, cosmetics, hair care, and grooming, [10] with brands such as Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo Boss, [8] Rochas, [17] and Lacoste. [1]

2011-2017

In 2011, Louvet was named president of global shave care for P&G, [12] overseeing Gillette Company, [9] and two years later group president of global grooming [1] and shaving. [8] The role gave him oversight of the company's grooming brands, including Braun electric razors, Venus razors, [1] and the global Gillette shaving business. [8]

In 2015, P&G appointed Louvet [1] [18] to group president of the company's global beauty [11] and hair care units. [12] Louvet remained in this role following Coty Inc.'s acquisition of P&G's perfume, hair care and make-up US businesses in July 2015. [14] In this role, he oversaw 12 brands in the global beauty unit, including Head & Shoulders, Pantene, [3] Olay, [19] and Old Spice, which generated about $11.5 billion in combined revenue in 2016. [2] By early 2017, Louvet had worked in six of P&G's 10 product categories. [1]

2017-present

In May 2017, the Ralph Lauren Corporation selected Louvet as its future CEO and president, effective July. [7] [4] Louvet also joined the board in July. [3] Louvet became the third appointed CEO in the history of the company. Founder Ralph Lauren stepped down as CEO in 2015 and remains as executive chairman and chief creative officer. Stefan Larsson became CEO in 2015, [2] [7] [13] but after he announced his resignation in February 2017, [18] chief financial officer Jane Nielsen was appointed interim chief CEO [5] on May 1 [18] while the company searched for a successor. [5]

Louvet stated plans to retire from P&G on 30 June, [1] with P&G saying it would name a successor to lead its beauty division at a later time. [2] As the new Ralph Lauren CEO, Louvet reports to executive chairman and creative director Ralph Lauren [2] [1] [5] and the company's board of directors. [18] Lauren stated that he was "thrilled" [3] about "finding the right partner to work with me," citing Louvet's "collaborative working style, transformation experience and intense focus on results." [19]

In 2023, Louvet's total compensation from Ralph Lauren was $14.5 million. [20]

Management style

In April 2025, Louvet received attention for his candid leadership philosophy, stating in an interview that when dealing with significant issues, sometimes some employees may "need to be hit by a 2×4 across the forehead." The comment prompted discussion of his no-nonsense approach to feedback, though there were no formal complaints or allegations resulting from it. [21] [22] [23]

Board memberships

Louvet is a member of the board of directors of Danone since 2022, [24] and of Bacardi Limited since 2012. [8] [12] He is also a member of The Business Council. [25]

Personal life

As of May 2017, Louvet is based in the New York metropolitan area. [2] He and his wife Christine have two children. [1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Brunsman, Barrett J. (17 May 2017). "P&G President Named CEO of Ralph Lauren". Cincinnati Business Courier . Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tweh, Bowdeya (17 May 2017). "Ralph Lauren Taps Procter & Gamble Executive Patrice Louvet as Its Next CEO". Wall Street Journal . Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Cavale, Siddharth (17 May 2017). "Ralph Lauren names P&G executive Patrice Louvet as CEO". Reuters . Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Badkar, Mamta (17 May 2017). "Ralph Lauren appoints P&G exec Patrice Louvet as new CEO". Financial Times . United Kingdom . Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Melin, Anders; Hoi-Nga Wong, Stephanie (17 May 2017). "Ralph Lauren Names P&G Veteran Patrice Louvet as Next CEO". Bloomberg . Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  6. Haapaniemi, Peter (26 July 2017). "Ralph Lauren Reaches Across Industry Boundaries for a New CEO". Chief Executive. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 Wahba, Phil (17 May 2017). "Ralph Lauren Names P&G Beauty Exec Patrice Louvet As New CEO". Fortune . Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Two new directors elected to Bacardi board". The Royal Gazette . 17 July 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Patrice Jean Louis Louvet". Bloomberg Businessweek . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Patrice Louvet - President". Gillette.com. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  11. 1 2 Reingold, Jennifer (21 January 2015). "Exclusive: Big moves at P&G as Taylor up, Henretta sideways". Fortune . Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Patrice Louvet - Group President, Global Beauty (PDF), Procter & Gamble, July 2015, retrieved 24 May 2017
  13. 1 2 Noto, Anthony (17 May 2017). "Ralph Lauren names new CEO amid tumultuous time". New York Business Journal . Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 Coolidge, Alexander (22 October 2014). "P&G CEO contender, others out amid reshuffle". The Cincinnati Enquirer / USA Today . Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  15. "Teri Hatcher stars in hair color ad campaign". The Augusta Chronicle and the Associated Press . 13 September 2005. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  16. Fulwell, Jonathan (9 May 2009). "Patrice Louvet, President of Global Prestige Products for P&G". Fashion Network. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  17. Menkes, Suzy (30 September 2010). "Elegant Androgyny". The New York Times . New York City, United States. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Fernandez, Chantal; Hoang, Limei (17 May 2017). "Ralph Lauren Names Patrice Louvet its New CEO". Business of Fashion. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  19. 1 2 "Ralph Lauren names Procter & Gamble executive as CEO". Star Tribune, Associated Press . 17 May 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  20. Anderson, Sarah (29 August 2024). "Executive Excess 2024: The "Low Wage 100" corporations are enriching CEOs at the expense of workers and long-term investment" (PDF). Institute for Policy Studies . Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 August 2024. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  21. "Ralph Lauren CEO says he doesn't believe in sugar coating criticism—here's how he handles negative feedback with staff". Fortune. 10 April 2025. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  22. Jain, Sanya (23 April 2025). "Ralph Lauren CEO says sometimes employees need to be 'hit by a 2×4 across the forehead'". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  23. "The best way to give feedback isn't a compliment sandwich, says Ralph Lauren CEO". CNBC. 10 April 2025. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
  24. Marie Bartnik (24 February 2022), Le PDG de Ralph Lauren proposé au conseil d'administration de Danone Le Monde
  25. Admin. "Member List". The Business Council. Retrieved 9 July 2025.

Further reading