Winners of INNOCOS 2016 Innovation Leader of Year Announced

BRUSSELS, May 12, 2016. The organizers of the World Beauty Innovation Summit to take place in Vienna on June 9-10^th, announced today the winners of the INNOCOS 2016 Innovation Leader of the Year Awards in Marketing, Product and Packaging.

INNOCOS events will be honoring the three winners who are making their mark on the cosmetics, fragrances, personal and oral care industries. Selected by the team of 4 judges and the organizers, these Honorees are recognized for their impressive performance, leadership potential, and the impact they’re making on their companies and the industry in innovation.

Our judges this year are:

• Toddi Gutner, Innovation Transformation Professional, Kalypso
• Mary Manning, Managing Partner Silk Route Strategists
• Mick Broekhof, Partner, Kalypso
• Leslie C. Smith, President, Leslie C. Smith Consulting

Irina Kremin, who is leads INNOCOS events says, “We meet many extraordinary leaders at our events and our goal is to give them more recognition through the Innovation Leader of the Year Awards. We have the support of our jury, which consists of industry and leadership experts, and are very excited to announce the winners for 2016”.

The winners are selected from an extensive pool of candidates, narrowed down to three finalists in three categories.

The 2016 INNOCOS Innovation Leader of the Year Award winners are…

MARKETING

Winner: Angela Cretu, General Manager Turkey, Group VP Africa & Middle East, Avon Cosmetics

Runner-up: Sian Sutherland, Co-Creator of Mio and Mama Mio, now Consultant Brand Creator

Finalist: Veronique Gohmann, Director of Marketing and Communication, Yves Rocher

Each the three finalists for InnoCos Marketing Innovation Leadership Award certainly deserve to be winners, which made it extremely difficult to choose among them. Sian Sutherland as founder of the innovative Mio and Mama Mio skincare lines discovered new market niches with pregnant and fit women while Veronique Gohmann, as international director of marketing and communications for Yves Rocher has done an amazing job with facilitating the product innovation for the company.

When selecting this year’s winner, the ability of Angela Cretu, the General Manager Turkey, Group VP for Africa & Middle East for Avon, to lead a 120-year company to successfully lead the redesign and implementation of an innovative new marketing direction for today’s digital economy, is what made the difference. It is with pleasure that the Leadership Award for Marketing goes to Angela Cretu.

PRODUCT

Winner: Des Fernandes, Scientific Advisor, Environ Skin Care

Runner-up: Geeta Chaudhary, COO, Maruva Cosmetics P/L

Finalist: Joseph Chang, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive VP, Product Development, Nu Skin Enterprise

In a crowded field of excellent candidates, Dr. Chang from Nu Skin has been a long time leader and innovator for his company and is clearly an accomplished businessman as well as scientist . Geeta Chaudhary is a super enthusiastic marketeer with an innovative business model working in a difficult and literally dangerous environment. She brings locally relevant products to market working closely with local suppliers and helps stimulate the regional economy.

My award however goes to Dr Des Fernandes CEO of Environ. As a practicing cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Des Fernandes clearly has an in-depth knowledge of human skin and associated cosmetic challenges. His Step Up approach used in salons by skin care experts shows great innovation combining medical knowledge with cosmetic formulation and close customer input. His broadened activities with other vitamins and their derivatives will bring further benefits to the consumer.

PACKAGING

Winner: John Morgan, Senior Scientist, Open Innovation, Amway

Runner-up: Craig Dubitsky, Founder & CEO, Hello Products LLC

Finalist: Abdullah Sahin, CEO, Agrio Kozmetik ve Tarım ltd.şti

Selecting the top award for Packaging Innovation Leadership was a true challenge as the final three finalists were of the highest caliber and all presented some exciting packaging concepts within their distinct categories. Very high commendation goes to Craig Dubitsky, a serious and highly successful entrepreneur, for the Hello line of oral products as well as to Abdullah Sahin of Univita, a subsidiary of Agrio, for the most, innovative, single-hand “snappable” sachet.

In the final selection of a winner, however, the word “leadership” became key and it is with pleasure that the Leadership award for Packaging Innovation goes to John Morgan of Amway for his major involvement with the Crescendo design of the Artistry line of prestige beauty products and the leadership of his team in Intelligent Package Design.

Awards will be presented on June 9 at the Imperial Riding School Renaissance Hotel in Vienna during the World Beauty Innovation Summit INNOCOS. www.innocossummit.com

The event is a high-profile international summit featuring case study presentations by brands and retailers, discussing the key influences that will shape the industry into the future:  K-Beauty, diversity, niche beauty, technology and more!

For all who is interested in participation next year, nominations for Innovation Leader of the Year Awards 2017 is opened now and we are adding one more category: Retail.
For more information and to nominate leader who inspires you, go to: http://innocossummit.com/awards/

Innocos Events is a Media Partner of ACI’s Future of Formulations in Cosmetics Conference.