L’Oréal Groupe has announced two key senior management changes.
Jesús Abia is named managing director of L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific from 1 July, succeeding Tao Zhang whose new position is yet to be confirmed.
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A highly regarded travel retail figure, Zhang joined L’Oréal Groupe 24 years ago beginning her career at L’Oréal Luxe China before taking on senior roles in Lancôme and YSL Beauty in Paris.
Zhang joined the L’Oréal Travel Retail Asia Pacific team in 2016 as Lancôme general manager, and was promoted to the role of Luxe general manager.
She took on the role of Managing Director in 2021, successfully navigating through the challenging COVID-19 period together with her teams.
Zhang is described as a leader with courage, strategic vision, unwavering commitment to drive change and a true believer of diversity and inclusion.
Abia in turn succeeds Zhang, following his role as general manager, Europe for the Luxe couture brands Prada, Mugler, Valentino and Viktor&Rolf.
He joined the group 14 years ago in Spain before heading the L’Oréal Travel Retail teams in America as area manager and in Asia Pacific as marketing director.
In 2019, Abia returned to his home country Spain as general manager for YSL Beauty and Biotherm.
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L’Oréal Groupe lauds Abia for his strategic vision and business mindset as well as his entrepreneurial spirit and modern leadership style.
The group added that all these qualities and Abia’s strong knowledge of travel retail will contribute to the stronger co-development of L’Oréal Brands in the Asia Pacific region.