Elana Drell Szyfer Appointed Chief Executive Officer of AHAVA Worldwide

NEW YORK, July 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- AHAVA, the leading Dead-Sea mineral-based skincare brand, is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has appointed Elana Drell Szyfer, current CEO of the company in North America, as Group Chief Executive Officer of AHAVA globally, in replacement of Mr. Yacov Ellis who, following a successful 10 year tenure as CEO, has decided to move on to new challenges. The appointment becomes effective September 1, 2013, following a transition period with Ellis.

Drell Szyfer, who joined AHAVA two and a half years ago, is a well-known figure in the global beauty industry. During her tenure as acting Group Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer of AHAVA North America, she successfully repositioned and relaunched the brand in 2011 and has had an electrifying impact on the business, which since the relaunch, has experienced strong double digit growth in all of its key U.S. retail partners. Globally, the brand can now be found in 30 countries, in leading retailers like Sephora in France, Coin and La Rinascente in Italy and KaDeWe in Germany.

In response to this success, AHAVA was restructured globally in January 2013, moving all marketing activities for the brand worldwide to the U.S. under her direction, to capitalize on her global marketing expertise and to bring marketing efforts closer to the commercial needs of key growth markets like the U.S.

Prior to her post as CEO of AHAVA North America, Drell Szyfer served as Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for the Estee Lauder brand, a division of The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.  There she oversaw marketing and strategy activities for the Companies' largest division and was responsible for the brand's skincare, makeup and fragrance categories and new media efforts. Her broad experience in cosmetics also includes positions at L'Oreal, Inc. for the Lancome brand, Avon Products, Inc., and Chanel Inc.

Drell Szyfer is a graduate from Columbia University and she holds an MBA from New York University. She was named one of Jewish Women International's 2012 'Women to Watch' and one of Pink magazine's 'Top 10 Women in Business'. She was also recently a winner of the National Council of Jewish Woman's 'Women Who Dared' award for her leadership and advocacy.  The Forward newspaper named Ms. Drell Szyfer one of the 50 most influential Jewish Americans of 2012 and in May, Drell Szyfer was honored by the New York City Chapter of UJA as a Woman of Influence. She was recently profiled in Israel's Lady Globes magazine as one of the top 40 business women in Israel. She is married and the mother of three daughters aged 12, 10 and 7.

SOURCE AHAVA