éImages courtesy of CNW Group/L’Oréal Canada

L’Oréal Canada has named Stéphane Bérubé as president and CEO, marking the first time a Canadian has led the company’s operations in the country.

Bérubé succeeds An Verhulst-Santos, who was recently appointed non-executive chairwoman of L’Oréal Brazil after leading the Canadian region for five years. According to a release, Bérubé will officially assume the role on June 1 following a handover period that began in April.

A L’Oréal veteran of more than two decades, Bérubé joined the company in 2002 as brand director for Maybelline New York Canada. He later held senior leadership roles including CMO of Canada from April 2014 to July 2017, followed by a more than two-year stint as CMO of Western Europe. Since September 2019, Bérubé has served as president of consumer products in Canada, a division that the company says has grown by close to 50% under his leadership.

As part of the executive shuffle, Stéphanie Binette will return to Canada to succeed Bérubé as head of the consumer products division after working for L’Oréal in the U.S. in various leadership roles since December 2018. Her tenure at the brand also includes a 1½-year stint as CMO for Canada.

The appointments come as L’Oréal continues to grow globally. In its April earnings report, the company said its consumer products division recorded 4.1% adjusted like-for-like sales growth in the first quarter. While Canada was not broken out separately, North America grew 7.6% on the same basis, with haircare remaining a key growth driver.