• Women's Wear Daily, Friday, November 9, 2007 11:30 AM

Fabrizio Freda, former president of the Global Snacks division of Procter & Gamble, will succeed William P. Lauder as president of of Estée Lauder Cos. on March 3, and will replace him as CEO within 24 months. The move outside the company for a leader--Lauder's father, Leonard A. Lauder, is currently chairman--is seen as a seismic cultural shift.

Lauder says he recruited Freda to inject a fresh viewpoint into the company, plus a renewal of disciplined thinking and analytical judgment. Lauder adds that Freda's background with P&G--where he is now based in Rome--provides a European sense of global branding. Since Lauder is a company rooted in global branding from an American vantage point, the new combination will provide a synergy "that will work well," Lauder says.

Freda also brings a disciplined brand-building approach that will match up with Lauder's more emotion-oriented technique of brand creation. "We will get the best of both cultures," the company president says. When Lauder went public in 1995, five brands generated about $2 billion in volume; today there are 28 brands generating $7 billion in revenues.

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