New generation takes charge at French cosmetics group Clarins

By

Sarah Ahssen

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Feb 17, 2022

Family-owned French cosmetics group Clarins has reorganised its governance structure, handing new executive roles to Virginie Courtin and her cousin Prisca Courtin, two of Clarins founder Jacques Courtin’s granddaughters. The handover between the Courtin family’s second and third generations is a sign of continuity, since both Virginie Courtin and Prisca Courtin are committed to Clarins’s corporate game plan and to the Clarins Unlimited strategy.
 

Virginie Courtin, formerly the Clarins group’s deputy CEO and head of CSR, has been appointed managing director, working alongside president and CEO Jonathan Zrihen and her uncle Olivier Courtin, he too active in the role of managing director.

“I fully embrace the responsibilities I have been entrusted with. As a member of Clarins’s executive committee since 2018, I have been actively involved in drawing up the winning strategy that is driving our family group forward (...) I fully intend to take Clarins even farther, while continuing to deploy our ambitious CSR plans. And I am proud, with my cousin Prisca, to be working alongside Jonathan Zrihen and my uncle Olivier Courtin,” said Virginie Courtin in a press release.

Prisca Courtin has been appointed president of Clarins’s advisory board, the body that oversees the group's governance, of which she has been a member since 2018. She succeeds her uncle Christian Courtin, who had expressed the wish to end his mandate and had already stepped down from operational involvement. She also remains the deputy managing director of Famille C, the holding company of the Courtin-Clarins families, owners of the Clarins group, which earlier this month bought US make-up brand Ilia.

“I am proud to be taking on this role. It is an honour to be able to add my contribution to our entrepreneurial and family story, and to help breathe into Clarins the agility and innovative spirit needed to continue to lead the competition,” said Prisca Courtin.
 
The Clarins group is present in 150 countries with its Clarins and MyBlend brands, and generates a revenue of approximately €1.5 billion.