Revlon President Resigns

Jeffrey Nugent, president and ceo of Revlon Inc. for the past two years, has resigned.

No replacement has been named, but board chairman Ronald Perelman had indicated earlier in a report to The Wall Street Journal that he had been thinking of replacing Nugent with former Coca-Cola president and coo Jack Stahl.

Revlon, which said Nugent had left “to seek new business opportunities,” acknowledged that he had installed some positive operational programs, primarily cutting costs, consolidating manufacturing facilities and negotiating better terms with U.S. retailing partners. But he had been criticized in the industry for not revitalizing the Revlon brand, which continued to lose ground to competitors such as Cover Girl (from Procter & Gamble).

Revlon severed its ties with model and spokeswoman Cindy Crawford in 2000 and switched to a non-celebrity ad campaign, but has since changed its strategy again. Last month, Revlon dismissed its advertising agency, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, right after launching a big campaign and switched to Deutsch Inc.