Wella Realigns North American Operations

Wella AG, Darmstadt, Germany, announced yesterday that it will align its North American professional salon operations. Effective Jan. 1, Wella Corporation USA will move from Montvale, NJ to Sebastian International headquarters in Woodland Hills, CA. The decision will strengthen the North American Wella and Sebastian International sales operations and will allow Sebastian to enfornce its international strategic role and creative vision.

Wella Corp. USA chairman and chief executive officer Steve Goddard will manage the North American operations for Wella, Sebastian and Belvedere. Claire Bruno, currently senior vice president of marketing for Sebastian, was appointed president of Sebastian International. Manolis Lekkas, chairman and chief executive officer of Sebastian, will oversee the transition through the end of the year before returning to his native Greece.

“The combined efforts of Sebastian, Wella and Belvedere will provide individual and collective strengths to expand the possibilities of what salons can accomplish without jeopardizing individual company identity,” said Mr. Goddard.

Since acquiring Sebastian in 1993, Wella has maintained the beauty care company as an independently managed designer brand.