Beauty retailer Sephora announced on Wednesday that longtime EVP and CFO of North America, Christophe Le Boterff, will retire in April, and that SVP Delphine Herve will take over the role. Herve has served as SVP of finance, financial planning and analysis for the region since 2022.
Sephora North America, which includes the U.S. and Canada, is a division of Sephora, the French multinational beauty giant, owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH.
Herve has been with LVMH since 2011 after starting her career with Ernst & Young and living abroad in Australia. She joined Sephora North America in 2014 from LVMH's spirits division Moet Hennessy, where she served in an audit function. Herve was hired by Sephora to help build the internal control capability for Sephora U.S., Canada, Mexico and Brazil. She has held a variety of finance roles since, “strengthening the finance team’s process and leading with excellence,” according to the company.
The outgoing Le Boterff joined Sephora as CFO in January 2017. Before that, he was CFO at Benefit Cosmetics. He was also the CFO at Celine and Givenchy, the COO at Bliss, and spent several years in finance leadership with LVMH North America.
Sephora, a private company, was acquired in 1997 by LVMH, whose CEO Bernard Arnault has a current net worth of $200 billion. In January, LVMH announced it recorded revenue of 86.2 billion euros (roughly $94.98 billion) in 2023, up 13% from 2022. In the announcement, Arnault also made a reference to the "ever-growing popularity of Sephora’s store concept worldwide."
Sephora provides a shopping experience that includes an open-sell environment, which allows customers to freely browse, touch and try a wide variety of beauty products, including makeup and skincare, on their own. Sephora also has beauty advisors available to give personalized recommendations, and integrate digital tools.
Sephora was founded in France by Dominique Mandonnaud in 1970. It currently has 2,700 stores in 35 countries worldwide, with an expanding base of over 700 stores across the Americas.
Herve’s promotion to finance chief follows a chief executive transition. Artemis Patrick began her tenure as CEO of Sephora North America in April, succeeding chief executive and president Jean-André Rougeot, who retired, Fortune reported. Patrick started as North American president last October, leaving her role as global chief merchandising officer. She joined the company in 2006 as director of e-commerce merchandising.
