LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton has named Alexandre Oulès chief operating officer of the LVMH beauty division, WWD has learned.

According to an internal announcement, Oulès started Monday and reports to Véronique Courtois, president and chief executive officer of Parfums Christian Dior and of the LVMH Group’s beauty division.

It is understood the role is a new one, part of a new organizational structure put in place by Courtois.

Oulès is to oversee manufacturing, supply chain, and purchasing across the beauty division, “driving stronger convergence between maisons across all three functions. He will lead the entire LVMH Beauty operations community, with the clear mission of supporting the division’s profitability and sustainable growth,” the announcement said.

“Alexandre will bring his strategic vision and deep operational expertise to the LVMH beauty division, ensuring that operations are efficient, resilient, and deliver the highest standard of excellence for the maisons,” it added.

Oulès was most recently chief operating officer at Balenciaga, but spent most of his career at LVMH.

A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and ENSTA ParisTech, he began his career in 1997 at L’Oréal. In 2001, he joined Guerlain and held various roles until 2014, including as director of Guerlain’s factories and as operations director.

According to LVMH, he has expertise in product development, manufacturing, purchasing, global supply chain, quality, and regulatory affairs.

He subsequently worked at Celine from 2014 to 2021 and at Moët Hennessy from 2021 to 2023, when he joined Balenciaga, which is part of Kering.

During his LVMH tenure, he oversaw the construction of two production sites: La Ruche for
Guerlain cosmetics production in France and La Manufacture for Celine’s leather goods production in Italy.

“I am delighted to welcome back Alexandre, whose pursuit of operational excellence is widely recognized,” Courtois commented. “His knowledge of the group and the specificities of the beauty world will strongly contribute to the overall efficiency of our operations.”