L’Oréal Names Sanford Browne President of Research & Innovation in North America

Sanford Browne has been appointed president of research and innovation (R&I) for L'Oréal's North America Zone.  He will report to Stéphane Rinderknech, chief executive officer of L’Oréal USA and president of North America Zone, as well as Barbara Lavernos, deputy chief executive officer in charge of research, innovation and technology. Browne will also serve as a member of the L’Oréal USA’s management committee, as well as a member of the global R&I management committee.

Browne replaces Stephan Habif, whorecently retired.

Browne assumes the role after serving as SVP of R&I for L’Oréal’s Asia-Pacific Zone, where he helped build a complete R&I division across the zone, including the research hubs of China and Japan, along with Seoul, Bangalore and Singapore.

A great advocate for cultural diversity, Sanford made a strong contribution to developing local researchers in L’Oréal’s Asia-Pacific zone. He joined L’Oréal in 2013 as VP of R&I in China, where he was the major architect of research and strategic partnerships that drove the innovation needed to meet the specific consumer expectations of the market, growing business across all divisions. Prior to joining L’Oréal, Browne served in various research and leadership roles at Unilever and P&G. 

“Cutting-edge science and technology are at the heart of our vision for a more sustainable, inclusive, personalized beauty future,” said  Rinderknech. “Sanford brings with him an extensive knowledge of the expectations and beauty rituals of consumers, a track record of delivering on consumer-centric product innovation, and a drive to build our innovation capabilities through external strategic partnerships. His mission will be to strengthen our North American Research and Innovation hub and enable us to seize the consumer shifts that are key to our future success.” 

L’Oréal invests more than $1 billion in research and innovation annually. According to the company, 4,000 people work in seven L’Oréal R&I centers around the world.