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John Demsey

John Demsey and
John Demsey and guest, 2015 (Courtesy of Getty Images)

Group President
The Estée Lauder Companies Chairman, M•A•C AIDS Fund

John Demsey is Group President, The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., a position he has held since July, 2006. In this role he oversees a wide portfolio of brands, including Estée Lauder, M·A·C Cosmetics, Tom Ford Beauty, Prescriptives, Bobbi Brown, Jo Malone, La Mer, and Smashbox.

A creative visionary and strategic thinker, Mr. Demsey has shown a unique ability to establish a brand’s authority, keep it fresh, and respect its heritage. By continually developing innovative products, cultivating new markets, and establishing an unprecedented link between beauty, fashion, entertainment, celebrity, and pop culture, the brands he has led have enjoyed unparalleled growth and expansion.

Mr. Demsey joined The Estée Lauder Companies in 1991 as Vice President, Sales, for the Estée Lauder brand in its West Coast region. He remained with the flagship brand until 1998, holding several positions in the New York headquarters and in the field, and was instrumental in expanding its business and increasing market share. As President of M·A·C from 1998 until 2005, Mr. Demsey built the small, niche makeup artist brand into a global cosmetics powerhouse. Distribution exploded from 19 markets to more than 75, and today it is the top-ranked prestige makeup brand in the U.S. In January 2005, Mr. Demsey was named Global Brand President of Estée Lauder and M·A·C and also assumed responsibility for Tom Ford Beauty and Prescriptives.

Mr. Demsey also serves as Chairman of the M·A·C AIDS Fund, which has raised more than $235 million in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and he has helped secure numerous celebrities for its M·A·C VIVA GLAM campaigns. Mr. Demsey is active in several other AIDS-related organizations, including the Fashion Group International Advisory Board; Advisory Council of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/ AIDS; Honorary Board of Love Heals; Love Heals, The Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education; Executive Advisory Board of the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation; and AIDS Project Los Angeles.