The Wella Company Announces Key Leadership Changes to Support Strategic Priorities Across Brand Building, Marketing, Innovation, and Supply Chain

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 23, 2026--

The Wella Company, the world’s largest pure-play hair and nail company, today announced strategic leadership changes to support its next phase, including a new organizational design for its Global Brand and Marketing function.

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The Wella Company is evolving the design of its Global Brand and Marketing function into two distinct but complementary teams, each with a dedicated leader and a clear mandate. Global Brand will be focused on building the strength of the Company’s portfolio of brands, while Global Marketing will be focused on translating that strength into consumer demand. Together, these newly designed teams will better enable the Company to continue building brand awareness, creating strong brand affinity, and driving advocacy among consumers and professionals.

In connection with this change, Yannis Rodocanachi is transitioning to the newly created role of Chief Brand Officer and industry veteran Carole Gardner Diarra will join as Chief Marketing Officer. The Wella Company has also appointed Victoria Spadaro Grant as Chief Scientific & Product Officer and Javier Huerta as Chief Supply Chain Officer as it continues to invest in its innovation and supply chain capabilities. Yannis, Carole, and Victoria will report to Calvin McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, and Javier will report to Frank Smalla, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer.

Quote from Calvin McDonald, Chief Executive Officer of The Wella Company:

“The Wella Company is entering an exciting new chapter. We have iconic brands, deep scientific expertise, and exceptional relationships with professionals, and these leaders bring fresh perspectives, proven capabilities, and a shared ambition to move with speed, innovate boldly, and win with pros and consumers around the world. I’m excited about the team we are building and confident they are the right leaders as we shape the future of beauty together.”

These changes support The Wella Company’s priorities in brand building, innovation, and omnichannel strategy. The following appointments and transitions are part of this evolution.

Roles & Responsibilities:

With these changes, The Wella Company also announced Chief Scientific Officer Peter Coles’ planned retirement following an impressive 36-year career as a leader of R&D organizations across The Wella Company, Coty Inc., and Procter & Gamble. Peter will remain with The Wella Company in a part-time advisory capacity. The Wella Company thanks Peter for his significant contributions in shaping the Company and growing the R&D organization during his tenure.

Bios:

About Yannis Rodocanachi

Yannis Rodocanachi has served as Chief Brand Officer of The Wella Company since October 2026. Mr. Rodocanachi previously served as President of Brands and Chief Marketing Officer of The Wella Company since November 2024, and as The Wella Company’s President, Americas from October 2021 to November 2024.

Prior to joining The Wella Company, from October 2019 to October 2021, he served as Chief Executive Officer of BH Cosmetics, an indie beauty brand, where he created a beauty platform focused on Gen Z consumers.

Before joining BH Cosmetics, he spent more than 18 years at L'Oréal in senior leadership roles managing their leading hair and makeup brands. Mr. Rodocanachi received a Master of Science in Business from NEOMA Business School in France.

About Carole Gardner Diarra

Carole Gardner Diarra will join as Chief Marketing Officer of The Wella Company, effective November 2, 2026. Ms. Diarra has served as Global Vice President of Marketing of UGG since September 2021, where she played a central role in evolving the company from an iconic, highly seasonal footwear brand into a global fashion and lifestyle company. She also built much of the modern marketing organization and operating model required to support the brand’s growth.

Prior to joining UGG, she served as Global Chief Marketing Officer at health and wellness direct-to-consumer company Arbonne and spent 15 years at L'Oréal in senior roles in the U.S. and Paris across global brand management, consumer insights, innovation, marketing operations, digital commerce, and P&L leadership. Ms. Diarra received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Duke University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

About Victoria Spadaro Grant

Victoria Spadaro Grant will join as Chief Scientific & Product Officer of The Wella Company, effective January 18, 2027.

Ms. Grant has served as Chief Science & Innovation Officer at Tate & Lyle, a global provider of ingredients and solutions for food, beverage, and personal care products, since November 2020, where she led R&D and innovation across multi-billion-dollar businesses, building technology and commercial platforms to create greater value and evolve the portfolio.

Prior to joining Tate & Lyle, she served as Global R&D and Quality & Food Safety Chief at Barilla Group, a privately owned global food company, where she modernized the R&D function, strengthened its technical and consumer focus, and developed new innovations with staying power. Ms. Grant received a Bachelor of Science in Food Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Luján, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, and a PhD in Food Engineering from Texas A&M University, among other degrees.

About Javier Huerta

Javier Huerta will join as Chief Supply Chain Officer of The Wella Company, effective December 1, 2026.

Mr. Huerta has served as Chief Supply Chain Officer of Imperial Brands PLC, a FTSE 30 multinational business, since February 2021, where he led global Supply Chain and product development across more than 100 markets, 30 manufacturing sites, and an organization of 15,000 employees.

Prior to joining Imperial Brands, he spent over 11 years at Unilever in London and the Netherlands across supply chain and operations, and over 13 years at Nestlé across operations, industrial engineering, and manufacturing. Mr. Huerta received an industrial Engineering Degree from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in México.

About The Wella Company

The Wella Company is the world’s largest pure-play hair and nail company, with a 145-year heritage and presence in more than 100 countries. The Company’s 6,000+ employees combine science, artistry, and professional expertise to develop and market hair color, care, styling and treatment products, nail products, and premium hair styling tools. Rooted in the professional beauty community, The Wella Company serves salon owners, hair stylists, nail technicians, and consumers around the world.

Its portfolio of iconic brands includes Wella Professionals – the No. 1 Salon Color Brand in the World*, Sebastian Professional, Nioxin, ghd, Clairol, Wella/Koleston, and OPI.

The Company has primary offices in New York City; Geneva; London; Darmstadt, Germany; and Calabasas, California, as well as sites across Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, among many others.

*Based on Wella Master Brand USD sales on the 2025 Salon Hair Care Global Series for the hair coloring products category published by Kline.

Javier Huerta

Carole Gardner Diarra

Victoria Spadaro Grant

The Oregon man who fatally shot a teenage gunman to end a deadly rampage at an elementary school last week says he was the children's “last line of defense” and that he regrets not arriving soon enough to save them all.

Kaylub Giamanco, whose two daughters attend Silver Rail Elementary, where the Oct. 15 attack occurred, said he feels like he failed the families of those who died.

“I want to apologize for not saving their babies, that’s probably the biggest thing for me right now,” Giamanco told Oregon Public Broadcasting in an interview published Friday. “The gratitude for saving people’s children is awesome. But there were ones that I didn’t save.”

Three children — ages 5, 8 and 11 — and a teacher were killed at the school in Bend, Oregon, last week when a former student there, 16-year-old Griffin J. John II, blasted his way through locked doors with a shotgun and attacked a special needs classroom. Another student was critically injured and a teacher was injured and hospitalized.

Police say another teacher threw her phone at the attacker and wrestled with him before Giamanco shot and killed him after following the gunman into the building.

Giamanco said he dropped off his daughters at the school that morning before driving to work. A few hours later, the 36-year-old carpenter was passing the school again as he was heading home for lunch.

He said he spotted someone wearing black and carrying a long gun fire shots into a pickup truck and at a person mowing the school's lawn before the shooter climbed a fence and headed toward the school building.

Giamanco said “panic fled into my brain.” He grabbed a .40-caliber handgun from his truck's center console and went after the gunman as he dialed 911. He asked the dispatcher to send help before hanging up his phone.

“I said 'I’m sorry I have to go in. People are going to die,'” Giamanco said in the interview.

As he got closer to the building, Giamanco said, he lay on his stomach and used his elbows to crawl across the ground.

“That’s when I started hearing children pleading for their lives,” he said. “And then I started hearing gunfire and I just started army crawling faster and faster. And I told myself: 'This is probably the last thing that I’m ever going to do.'”

Giamanco said he entered the school through a window that had been shot out. Peeking into a nearby classroom, he saw a teacher grappling with the shooter. He said he faced them both in profile, giving him an open shot.

“I felt like I was the last line of defense between him and the rest of the children,” Giamanco said.

He swung the door open, stepped into the room and fired his gun.

Both the gunman and the teacher dropped to the floor. The teacher bolted from the room as the shooter reached for his shotgun.

“He was scrambling for his weapon,” Giamanco said. “I looked at him and I shot him two more times to make sure that he couldn’t move, because I was afraid of him shooting anybody else.”

Police have said Giamanco was carrying his gun legally in his truck and have credited him and the unarmed teacher who confronted the gunman with saving lives. A day after the shootings, President Donald Trump said that Giamanco was a “great hero” who “took care of business.”

A second teacher in the classroom, Becky Drury, said in a statement Wednesday that she lay on the floor, helplessly playing dead, after being struck at close range by a shotgun blast that nearly severed her left hand.

The teacher who struggled with the shooter hasn't been publicly identified. Giamanco told the public broadcaster that she's “a real true hero” whose actions gave him an opening to kill the attacker.

“I can’t tell you what it feels like to take a life … but I can tell you that I genuinely feel like I was supposed to be there,” Giamanco said. “If I wasn’t there, I just don’t know what would have happened.”

Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.

Kaylub Giamanco, who fatally shot an attacker who had killed three students and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School, reacts as he sits for an interview on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (Saskia Hatvany/Oregon Public Broadcasting via AP)

Kaylub Giamanco, who fatally shot an attacker who had killed three students and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School, poses for a portrait on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (Saskia Hatvany/Oregon Public Broadcasting via AP)

Kaylub Giamanco, who fatally shot an attacker who had killed three students and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School, poses for a portrait on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (Saskia Hatvany/Oregon Public Broadcasting via AP)

Children place flowers at a makeshift memorial outside Silver Rail Elementary in Bend, Ore., Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, a day after a deadly shooting. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)

Police tape is placed outside Silver Rail Elementary school, where a shooting took place, on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026 in Bend, Ore. (AP Photo/Joe Kline)