Philippe Margueritte was elected as TFWA President at a management meeting in Paris, succeeding Erik Juul-Mortensen.

At its meeting today (13 December) in Paris, the TFWA Management Committee voted Philippe Margueritte as the new President of the association.

He succeeds Erik Juul-Mortensen, the association’s long-serving figurehead and one of its original founders, who decided to step down as TFWA President this month having spent a total of more than two decades in the position, most recently securing consecutive terms as President since 2021.

In accordance with TFWA’s statutes, his one-year mandate will run until December 2025.

The President is also responsible for executing Management Committee decisions and ensuring the proper functioning of the Association.

Margueritte’s appearance in the shortlist could be viewed as a surprise by some observers given it has been more than five years since he occupied a senior day-to-day operational role within DF&TR, having left his position as Coty Senior Vice President Global Travel Retail and Export in 2019.

However, a professional pedigree spanning more than 30 years in the beauty sector including more than 11 years spent with L’Oreal Group and nearly 16 years at Coty, including as its SVP Global Travel Retail and Export, meant he would always be viewed as a strong contender for the top job at TFWA on the basis of his combined senior leadership pedigree and extensive network of contacts.

During his time with Coty, Margueritte played a central role in developing the travel retail function following the company’s $12.5bn merger of the Procter & Gamble (P&G) fine fragrance, colour cosmetics, salon professional and hair colour empire in 2015, which resulted in Coty absorbing 43 of P&G’s beauty brands.

Experienced TFWA Board Member Sam Gerber was among a six-strong group each vying to succeed Erik Juul-Mortensen as the new TFWA President.

Six-strong lineup of contenders

TRBusiness has it on good authority that an experienced group of six candidates competed for the presidency at TFWA’s offices in Paris today.

Aside Margueritte, this included Group Chief Executive Officer of King Power Group (Hong Kong) and Asia Pacific Travel Retail President Sunil Tuli; Keith Hunter, Chief Retail Officer, Urban-Air Port; Alexandra Schimel-Fila, former Creative Director of Zilli; and Olivier Bottrie, formerly Global President, Travel Retail and Retail Development at The Estée Lauder Companies.

Sam Gerber, Managing Partner at WorldConnect AG – Skross, had already declared his intention to stand as President.

Erik Juul-Mortensen, departing TFWA President, said: “As my tenure as TFWA President comes to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the TFWA Board, Management Committee, the permanent team and of course the members for their support over the years.

“It has been an absolute privilege to have served this dynamic industry. I trust that the Association will remain true to its values and motto ‘by the trade, for the trade’, and wish the Association all the very best as it now embarks on a new chapter.”

The TFWA President is responsible for overseeing all the Association’s activities and for ensuring that they are carried out in the best interest of TFWA’s members.

The deadline for members of the Management Committee to lodge their candidacy with the TFWA Election Committee was yesterday (12 December), while candidates outside the Management Committee were given until Tuesday 15 November to express their interest.

As reported, TFWA recently elected new faces to its Board and Management Committee, who will serve the association on a two-year mandate from October 2024 to October 2026.

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