NEW YORK (TIP): Indian American financial executive Akhil Shrivastava has been appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, of cosmetics major Estée Lauder Companies Inc effective November 1.
Shrivastava, a Delhi University alumnus, will report to William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman, and Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer, according to a company press release.
“With over 25 years of extensive financial and leadership experience, Akhil is an exceptional and capable leader whose financial and strategic expertise and insights have been important in supporting the Company over the past several years, and he will be instrumental in driving forward our strategic direction and decisions,” said Fabrizio Freda. “I look forward to partnering with Akhil as we continue to rebuild stronger, more sustainable profitability and sales growth acceleration across the business.”
In his new role as Chief Financial Officer, Shrivastava will be responsible for the Company’s Global Finance, Accounting, Tax, Treasury, Investor Relations and New Business Development organizations, according to the release. He will lead ELC’s Global Finance & Strategy (F&S) organization and will continue to cultivate and strengthen the tremendously talented Finance & Strategy Team, continuing to imbue agility and consumer-focus across the organization to drive sustainable value creation, governance, and strategic business objectives and priorities for the long-term.
Since joining ELC in 2015, Shrivastava has held several senior finance roles within the Company. He was recently named ELC’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller, a role that oversees Corporate Accounting and Financial Planning & Analysis, the International and Online Finance organizations, Pricing and Value Chain Finance, serving on both the Finance & Strategy Leadership Team and Executive Leadership Team.
He also oversees the Operational Excellence pillar as part of the Profit Recovery and Growth Plan focused on driving strong inventory, cash, and cost improvements for the Company. Prior to his current role, he was Senior Vice President, Treasurer, where he was responsible for core Treasury functions, the Enterprise Risk Program, Real Estate, and oversight of the Company’s retirement funds.
Shrivastava will serve as a member of several of ELC’s senior management leadership groups including the Executive Leadership Team, Investment Development Committee, Fiduciary Investment Committee, and Corporate Risk Management Committee. In some cases, his membership will continue, and, in others, he will be a new member.
“Akhil has demonstrated his capabilities as a transformational, visionary, and collaborative leader who combines finance and strategy with an appreciation for the creativity within our business and our brands with consumers at the heart,” said William P. Lauder. “He also has a keen ability to cultivate high-performing teams and organizations and will continue to strengthen the tremendously talented Finance & Strategy organization, which will be instrumental in continuing to drive our strategic business objectives and priorities for the long term.”
Shrivastava first joined ELC in 2015 as Vice President of Global Finance & Strategy for the Estée Lauder brand and was then appointed to the role of Senior Vice President of global Finance & Strategy for Jane Hertzmark Hudis’ Brand Cluster in January 2019, where he provided strategic leadership and financial guidance while maximizing business and transformational opportunities across the brand cluster. Specifically, he helped allocate resources to support and promote the best growth opportunities from a consumer, sub-category, geography, and channel perspective.
He has also served as a valued member of many key enterprise initiatives at the Company, providing strategic financial direction for projects which include transforming ELC’s planning processes and capabilities to support the end-to-end business from consumer demand to delivery.
“With its leading portfolio of iconic brands, extensive global reach, and impressively talented people, I am honored to lead the Global Finance team,” said Akhil Shrivastava. “I look forward to helping to advance the Company’s multiple engines of growth to rebuild stronger, more sustainable profitability and support sales growth acceleration across brands, product categories, and regions while evolving the business for the future.”
Before joining The Estée Lauder Companies, Shrivastava spent eighteen years at Procter & Gamble, where he served in several finance and leadership roles across Asia, North America, and global businesses, including Finance Director for Gillette, North America.
Shrivastava is a graduate of Engineering College in Rewa, India and has a master’s degree in finance and Control from Delhi University.