L'Oréal USA's president and CEO Frederic Roze announced Kristina Schake will be joining L'Oréal USA as chief communications officer effective July 8, 2013. Schake will represent L'Oréal USA for all corporate communications and will lead the external communications strategy in the areas of public and media relations, industry and government relations, sustainability and crisis communications. In addition, she will oversee corporate philanthropic programs.
Schake is currently a special assistant to President Obama and communications director to the First Lady Michelle Obama. Before joining the White House in December 2010, Schake was co-founder and principal of Griffin|Schake, a California-based public affairs and strategic communications firm that specialized in helping civic leaders, major foundations and non-profit organizations bring about critical social change through policy, legislative, social marketing and media initiatives. She was a founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the sole sponsor of the federal court challenge to California's Proposition 8, which was heard before the U.S. Supreme Court in March. A native Californian, Schake is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University.