As Lead CFO for Coty Benelux, what is your typical day?

There is actually no day like the other. Mostly I spend my day in meetings and reviews, supporting the Business and Finance Teams to guide, remove roadblocks and ultimately to make decisions. This is quite diverse and ranges from business topics (i.e. can we launch a new product for a certain customer with a specific support model, ensuring this is financially attractive), to making decisions in the area of our Custodian/Accounting Teams (i.e. General Ledger, Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable), to people management topics, questions related to the Coty’s Holding activities, or presenting new strategies to our local teams or to the Company Leadership Team, etc.

Coty allows me to have a balance between work and family, which means that I can take my son to Day Care every morning.

If you could go back, what decision would you change, if any, about your career, and why?

This is actually a very good question! Recently I was asked to present internally to the Benelux organisation about my career development and one of the questions was very similar. I wouldn’t actually change any of my decisions, but I would evaluate some of the situations I have encountered. In the end, everything turned out well and I feel quite lucky with it. Despite the fact there were times where I was thinking, “I’m not moving on fast enough”, I got to where I wanted to get to.

My advice is that ‘patience’ and choosing the ‘right’ assignment over the faster career step, definitely pays out in the end.

What made you decide to move to Coty in Amsterdam, from Procter & Gamble – Switzerland? How did this impact your family?
In the end it was the job opportunity of the position of the ‘Lead CFO Benelux’ which made me move to Amsterdam. Being able to run a relatively large Finance organisation, with around 40 employees and operating the full 360 degree set of finance tasks (including Business, Custodian/Accounting, Controls, Financing, etc.), plus with the special addition of Coty’s Holding activities also being managed out of the Benelux, made this decision easy.

However, on a personal side this came with a ‘downside’ of moving my family from Geneva, where we really enjoyed living. My partner needed to abandon a very attractive job with the United Nations. However today we are happy that we did it, since we all managed to settle well in the Netherlands, both professionally and as a family.

What advice would you provide to Senior Finance professionals considering the move to the Netherlands?

I have no specific advice but can only confirm that the Netherlands is a great place to work as well as to live and would recommend trying it. I especially appreciate the ‘direct and collaborative’ work style of Dutch people, as well as the versatile possibilities of outside work activities such as ‘Kite Surfing’, in addition to having a work/life balance!

What makes Coty an employer of choice?

In my opinion, Coty is probably one of the best companies for personal accelerated development and growth. Despite being a sizeable company, we are still growing together after the merge with P&G in 2016, which has created the need for a lot of flexibility, creativity and, above all, personal ownership. This is one of the reasons I joined and can confirm after 3 years that this is really the place for development and growth.

We are currently building the future company all together. A ‘learning’ environment in a big company of similar size, you usually would not get.

What key attributes does Coty look for in a potential employee?

It will always depend on the specific position we are hiring for (depends on the expertise or experience required). However, in general, we look for individuals with a strong commitment, a strong ‘own it, drive it’ attitude as well as a good ‘team player’ mindset. People who are committed and don’t get afraid of challenges.

As a business, how does Coty promote diversity and inclusion internally?  How does this manifest itself in the finance function?

Yes, indeed diversity and inclusion is a very important factor for us, which we are not just promoting corporately, but driving also locally. Take for instance our local Benelux Finance team; within the team of around 40 people we have 8 different nationalities, circa 15 different backgrounds and ca. 60% female employees. Bringing the strength from different backgrounds!

How does Coty actively support with Corporate Social Responsibility?

Also in this area, we try to play our part. As an example, initiatives include a Charity Day, where all employees support local projects for one day. We are currently trying to make our offices ‘greener’ by specific waste reduction activities; less/no plastic initiatives, taking the stairs/saving energy and supporting specific individual fundraising projects that are initiated by our employees.

At a global level, Coty and its brands are committed to minimizing its impact on the environment and to a range of social causes, such as the “We Stand For You” program, co-led with Global Citizen, aiming at raising Coty associates’ voices to fight against discrimination, whether on gender, LGBTI, ethnicity or disability.

If you didn’t work in finance, what another career would you like to have tried?

Before starting my studies of Finance, I was actually looking into Environmental Engineering as an alternative study, as this was my passion. At a later stage during my time at University I was also considering doing a side move towards Diplomacy, which is also why I specifically chose to study for one year in France.

What beauty products can you not live without?

If worst comes to worst, I guess I could live without any beauty products. However, having worked in this industry for a very long time now, I actually get to (and enjoy) trying new products all the time to stay close to latest developments and innovations of the category.