James Thompson

James Thompson joined Avon as Chief Beauty & Brand Officer in November 2018, following a 24-year career at Diageo PLC, most recently serving as Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer for Diageo North America.

In this role he is responsible for leveraging the strength of our beauty marketing and innovation to create more agile category teams that are structured to work much more closely with Avon’s markets.

During his tenure with Diageo, James worked on three different continents including North America, where he led a fundamental strategic overhaul and restructuring, including a culture and organisation transformation. As Global Managing Director of Diageo’s Luxury Portfolio, he led a total review of the portfolio resulting in the company accelerating growth to gain leadership of the luxury drinks market despite a slowdown in the market.

Prior to Diageo, James spent 10 years at Unilever PLC, serving in various marketing positions.