// Glossier’s founder and CEO Emily Weiss announces she is stepping down as chief executive, effective immediately
// Weiss will be succeed by current chief commercial officer Kyle Leahy
Beauty brand Glossier has confirmed that its current founder and CEO Emily Weiss is stepping down as its chief executive officer, although she will be staying on as executive chairwoman.
In a blog post on the Glossier website, Weiss said that her successor as chief executive would be chief commercial officer Kyle Leahy, effective immediately.
“I will always be Glossier’s founder. But a CEO is the champion that a company looks to, to lead it into tomorrow,” said Weiss in the blog post.
“From my observation, the greatest companies in the world understand this distinction and make sure that the CEO seat is always filled with the right person to take it where it needs to go for its brightest next chapter.”
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Weiss added that she feels that Leachy is the right person to evolve how Glossier meets the needs of its six million strong global audience and satisfy brand demand, as nearly 1 out of every 2 women in the US, aged 18 to 34, have heard of the besuty brand.
The blog post adds: “From the get-go, Kyle understood that Glossier is in year 7 of a 100-year journey. We had long discussions about the evolution of our company strategy, anchored in our shared understanding that distribution channels change, history is cyclical, but iconic brands and products are forever.
“Kyle joined the team in 2021 because she wants Glossier to mean even more to future generations than it has to our initial 6 million customers. She brings both a deep appreciation of the power of timeless consumer brands and the proven experience of leading large, dynamic organisations through transformational moments.”
By moving to solely beconme executive chairwoman, Weiss said that she will be able to focus more of her time on supporting the creative, brand, product and retail teams, as well as on the store design for Glossier’s New York flagship, which will open in SoHo in early 2023.
At the start of the year the brand laid off a third of its workforce as it slashed its internal tech team in favour of working with external partners.
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