The Dead-Sea mineral-based skin care brand Ahava appointed Elana Drell Szyfer, current CEO of the company in North America, as its group CEO of Ahava globally, in replacement of Yacov Ellis who, following a successful 10 year tenure as CEO, has decided to move on to new challenges. The appointment becomes effective September 1, 2013, following a transition period with Ellis.
Drell Szyfer, who joined Ahava two and a half years ago, is a well-known figure in the global beauty industry. During her tenure as acting group COO and CEO of Ahava North America, she successfully repositioned and relaunched the brand in 2011 and has had an electrifying impact on the business, which since the relaunch, has experienced strong double digit growth in all of its key U.S. retail partners. Globally, the brand can now be found in 30 countries, in leading retailers like Sephora in France, Coin and La Rinascente in Italy, and KaDeWe in Germany.
In response to this success, Ahava was restructured globally in January 2013, moving all marketing activities for the brand worldwide to the U.S. under her direction, to capitalize on her global marketing expertise and to bring marketing efforts closer to the commercial needs of key growth markets like the U.S.
Prior to her post as CEO of Ahava North America, Drell Szyfer served as senior vice president of global marketing for the Estée Lauder brand, a division of The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. There she oversaw marketing and strategy activities for the companies' largest division and was responsible for the brand's skin care, makeup and fragrance categories and new media efforts. Her broad experience in cosmetics also includes positions at L'Oréal for the Lancôme brand, Avon Products and Chanel Inc.