Sue Nabi, the CEO of Coty, is out after five years, the company announced today.
Nabi joined the beauty giant in July 2020, succeeding then-CEO Peter Harf, who was in the role for a month before being made executive chair. Harf will also be stepping down from his role that he spent more than three decades in.
Coty announced that Markus Strobel will take on the role of executive chairman of the board and interim chief executive officer from January 2026.
Strobel joins the company from Procter Gamble, where he was president of the company’s global skin and personal care business. He has worked on spearheading brands such as Gucci, Dolce Gabbana, Valentino and Hugo Boss as part of his fragrance assignment.
Strobel’s résumé has seen him work internationally, from North America, Greater China, Japan to Korea and Europe.
“I am delighted to join Coty at this important juncture. Building on Coty’s strong foundations, I see tremendous potential to accelerate growth, strengthen our position in prestige and mass beauty, and deliver sustainable value for shareholders, partners, and consumers worldwide,” he said in a statement.
Nabi’s exit comes at a crucial point for Coty, which houses Etro, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs, among other brands. She oversaw the launch of Burberry’s Goddess fragrance and helped reduce Coty’s financial net leverage.
In October, Kering announced its plans to sell its beauty division to L’Oréal Group, which includes a transfer of the Gucci Beauty license from Coty to L’Oréal when it ends in 2028. Since relaunching under Coty in 2019, Gucci Beauty has grown almost 60%, Nabi said in November.
In its most recent earnings call, however, the company said sales declined 6% to $1.58 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, in line with analyst expectations. Adjusted EBITDA fell 18% year-on-year, with gross margin decreasing from 65.5% to 64.5% in response to lower sales and tariff headwinds. At the time, Nabi told Vogue Business that Coty’s US-based factories and price increases across the prestige fragrance category allowed it to mitigate some of the impacts.
Nabi believes the durability of the Coty portfolio will help return the business to growth. “With the confirmation that the Gucci license will no longer be part of our portfolio after its expiry, our focus for the next several years will be on the brands with the biggest long-term growth potential — this is the majority of our portfolio,” Nabi said, highlighting new additions such as Marc Jacobs Beauty, which is expected to debut in the 2026 calendar year, as well as Swarovski’s fragrance launch, penned for 2027.
At Coty, Nabi has been a driver of change, helping to transform the company’s corporate culture. As a transgender CEO, she introduced a company-wide gender-neutral parental leave policy in October 2022, while that November, the company announced in its sustainability report that it had achieved its goal of equitable pay across similar roles and performance, regardless of gender.
Nabi began her career at L’Oréal as a retail sales representative in 1993, before rising through the ranks to become worldwide president of L’Oréal Paris in 2005. She brought in particular change across the company’s campaigns, featuring Jane Fonda at the age of 68, tapping the likes of Penelope Cruz and Eva Longoria, and bringing in male campaign stars, such as Patrick Dempsey.
Nabi was moved to oversee Lancôme in 2009 as the brand was declining. During her four-year tenure, she helped launch the fragrance La Vie est Belle, which Julia Roberts is the face of.
There are currently no details on Nabi’s next steps. But seeing as she became an independent board member of Moncler in April 2025, the beauty veteran could be shifting gears for her next role.
