Avon names new SVP and chief supply chain officer, announces departure of SVP of HR

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Dec 21, 2018

Avon Products, Inc. has named Vikram Agarwal as the company's new senior vice president and chief supply chain officer, effective February 1 of 2019.

In his new role, Agarwal will sit on the company's Executive Committee and report to Jan Zijderveld, Avon's chief executive officer. He succeeds Michael Watson, who has decided to step down to "pursue other professional opportunities," according to a company press release. 

Vikram's resume is dominated by 30 years of experience working in operations and supply chain management at consumer goods company Unilever, where he most recently served as executive vice president of supply chain in Africa. In this role, he managed "a multi-billion dollar regional business, including end-to-end supply chain across 15 countries, 14 factories and 25,000 employees," and "significantly increasing orders serviced, while leading a program to double the number of customer outlets served, including deploying digital solutions," according to Avon. 

Prior to serving in this role, Agarwal also held multiple executive positions at Unilever.   

This newest appointment comes soon after Avon announced its "Open Up Avon" strategy in September, which focuses on revamping the company's brand image, digital presence, and operations in order to achieve long-term company growth.

"[We] look forward to the expertise and insights [Agarwal] brings from having overseen large, complex supply chains of consumer goods organizations," said Zijderveld. "Our supply chain transformation [...] is central to our efforts to 'Open Up' Avon. I'm confident that Vikram's experience in emerging and fast-changing markets as well as in transformational agendas make him well suited to lead a revitalized supply chain team in continuing to drive improvements in service quality and representative satisfaction, as well as ensuring that our global operational structure is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible."

As Agarwal enters Avon, the company also announced that Susan Ormiston, senior vice president of human resources will be leaving in January of 2019 to pursue an opportunity outside Avon.