Beauty industry veteran Elana Drell Szyfer has joined Laura Geller Beauty as CEO and Tengram Capital Partners as an Operating Advisor. Tengram first invested in Laura Geller Beauty in December 2012.
Ms. Drell Szyfer has over two decades of experience in the beauty industry having worked at Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, and Avon. At Estee Lauder, she held the role of Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for the Estee Lauder brand, and prior to that, Vice President of Global Marketing for Prescriptives. She then spent three years at AHAVA Dead Sea Laboratories (a cosmetics company), where she was Chief Executive Officer. Most recently, she was EVP, Global Brand Strategy at Kenneth Cole.
“We are thrilled to welcome Elana to the Laura Geller Beauty and Tengram family and look forward to the significant contributions that she will make towards all of our brands,” said Richard Gersten, Partner at Tengram. “Her experience in the beauty industry, and her expertise in defining and leveraging brand assets to build and propel company growth will be a tremendous asset to Laura Geller Beauty and will greatly impact the awareness and continued elevation of the brand.”
Laura Geller Beauty is a cosmetics brand developed by professional makeup artist, Laura Geller. The company is known as the pioneer of the “baked” category of makeup – powders that deliver vibrant colors and for its easy-to-use multi-tasking products intended to simplify and improve women’s makeup routines. In addition to being a best-selling brand on QVC, Laura Geller Beauty products are sold at national retail partners ULTA and Beauty Brands, along with its own website and other beauty sites. The company is based in New York (www.LauraGeller.com).
As CEO of Laura Geller, Ms. Drell Szyfer’s will look to continue to scale the company and lead the development of the Laura Geller brand. A primary charge will include driving Laura Geller Beauty’s current image revamp and expansion into additional brick and mortar locations, both domestically and globally, as well as focus on new product and technology innovations, while continuing to grow the company’s QVC business globally.
In addition to her new post at Laura Geller Beauty, Ms. Drell Szyfer will hold an Operating Advisor role at Tengram Capital Partners. She will advise on Tengram’s current beauty portfolio, assume board positions and consult on potential new investments. The Tengram beauty portfolio currently includes Nest Fragrances and Deva Curl, in addition to Laura Geller Beauty.
Tengram Capital Partners invests in companies in the branded consumer products and retail sectors. Specific areas of interest include apparel, sporting goods, consumer electronics, home furnishings, health and beauty, spirits, and food & beverages. Tengram was founded in 2010 by William Sweedler and Matthew Eby and is based in Westport, CT (www.tengramcapital.com).
“I am very excited to welcome Elana on board. I am confident that her significant industry expertise and leadership will take the brand to the next level. After founding this company over twenty years ago, I am delighted to see the brand’s recent evolution and am looking forward to the growth that Elana will bring,” says Laura Geller, Founder, Laura Geller Beauty.
2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 7-11-14
