Rod Little Named as New CFO for Elizabeth Arden

Elizabeth Arden, Inc. announced the appointment of Rod R. Little as executive vice president and CFO, effective April 1, 2014. Little joins Elizabeth Arden, Inc. from Procter & Gamble where, since 2009, he has served as CFO for P&G’s global salon professional division, a $2 billion global business, where he led a 200-person finance organization in over 20 countries. He was also a member of P&G’s global beauty leadership Council.

Before that, Little was the finance leader for P&G’s North America salon professional division. He joined P&G in 1997, after serving in the U.S. Air Force for five years, and steadily progressed at P&G through numerous corporate finance and divisional finance leadership roles of increasing responsibility.

Along with significant global beauty experience, Little brings recent international experience having lived and worked outside of the U.S. for the past five years, managing specific divisional growth initiatives in Europe and Asia. As the finance leader for Wella after its acquisition by P&G, Little was responsible for the integration of that division, gaining valuable experience working to restructure their business while helping to drive consistent sales growth and gross margin expansion.

E. Scott Beattie, chairman, president and CEO of Elizabeth Arden, commented, “Rod is a seasoned financial executive with a strong background in the beauty market and significant international experience. We believe that he is particularly well-equipped to work with our senior executive team to help us return to systematic sales growth and gross margin improvement. Having led a large global finance organization within P&G, Rod earned a reputation as a strong, hands-on organizational leader and an excellent collaborator with commercial teams.”

Little commented, “I am very excited to join the Elizabeth Arden team. I believe the potential for growth and value creation is tremendous, given the smart and passionate people that I have already met in the company, a strong brand portfolio, and an attractive international footprint. Having played a leadership role in similar business situations and industries, I am confident that we can develop and execute plans to drive consistent sales and margin growth. I look forward to becoming part of the Elizabeth Arden family and partnering with the team to build the business.”

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