Coty names Dr. Shimei Fan as Chief Scientific Officer

NEW YORK, NY – Coty, Inc. (NYSE: COTY) today announced that Dr. Shimei Fan, formerly Senior Vice President of Shiseido’s Americas Innovation Center, will join the company as Chief Scientific Officer, reporting to CEO Sue Y. Nabi. Shimei will take up the role on January 3, 2022 and will be based in Amsterdam.

As Chief Scientific Officer, Shimei will head up the 500 employees in the organization’s global R&D and innovation function and lead on sustainability. Coty R&D is responsible for expanding and evolving the organization’s best-in-class portfolio of products, by creatively combining cutting-edge technologies with prevailing beauty trends. With a rich heritage of scientific mastery and development of ownable technology and winning innovation, the team ensures sustainability, and the needs of Coty’s consumers are at the heart of every innovation.

“We could not be more thrilled to welcome Shimei, an innovative beauty scientist and seasoned R&D leader with a 30-year track record of delivering highly innovative, sustainable and clean consumer products for the world’s leading beauty companies,” said Sue Y. Nabi, CEO of Coty.

“Coty is leading the field of “Clean Beauty That Works”, and with Shimei as Chief Scientific Officer leading on sustainability, we are demonstrating our belief that sustainability is the ultimate driver of beauty innovation and central to Coty’s continued success. Shimei shares this vision, and we are excited to add her talents and expertise to the company’s senior leadership.” From her prior experience at Shiseido, Beiersdorf, and Unilever, Shimei brings deep and invaluable expertise across three of Coty’s strategic growth drivers: color cosmetics, skincare and the Chinese beauty market.

As part of her role, she will focus on implementing Coty’s unique portfolio of key IP, such as skincare ingredients, encapsulation technologies, or skin protection know-how, to boost the company’s skincare portfolio of seven brands. At the same time, she will be ensuring Coty’s skincare and color cosmetics ranges continue to become totally inclusive, as the company continues to make substantial investments in both businesses.

“As a beauty scientist and consumer, I have always admired the creativity, thought and care that Coty puts into its products and the respect the company has for its people and our planet,” said Shimei. “I am very excited to join Coty at this time, as the company continues to raise the bar in sustainable product development.”

Prior to her time at Shiseido, Shimei was Vice President of Global R&D at Beiersdorf and Global R&D Director at Johnson & Johnson’s consumer division. She started her consumer products R&D career at Unilever, where she spent 22 years.

Shimei earned a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Chemistry from Fu-Dan University in Shanghai, one of the world’s leading Universities in the Sciences, a master’s degree in Superconductors from Cambridge University, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Southampton.

Her appointment as Coty’s Chief Scientific Officer, whose R&D responsibilities were previously held by the Chief Supply Officer and Head of R&D, reflect Coty’s belief that sustainability-driven innovation is the key to the company’s continued and future success.