Innovation at the top
The Singaporean beauty brand, which entered the market in 2008, seeks to produce personalised skin care solutions using highly concentrated serums with pure and active ingredients. It uses Japanese skincare technology to produce formulations based on scent- and paraben-free ingredients with progressive delivery systems.
The latest appointment comes after a number of high-profile additions to the board, which include: Dr Shekhar Mitra, board advisor for product innovation; Tan Yen Yen, board advisor for technology and innovation; and Lim Teck Wee, director and chief operating officer.
With experience in multinational FMCGs and technology organisations, collectively, the panel will aim to utilise their thought leadership skills and industry knowledge to create and implement new ideas that continue to pair customised beauty with forward-thinking technologies.
The new board members hope to strengthen Skin Inc’s focus on creating skin checks that are designed and optimised for mobile and will gather and analyse data to improve its range of products and their effectiveness.
Career to date
Francois Arpels began learning about business 25 years ago, through his family’s venture, Van Cleef & Arpels. In 1997, he played a key role in managing the €250 mn buyout of the luxury jewellery, watch and perfumery brand with Morgan Stanley.
With decades of experience in brand positioning, marketing, digital strategy and international expansion, Arpels then established and ran the Brands & Beyond fund (formerly IndEu Capital), which invests in India-based lifestyle and luxury brands.
In 2015, he also founded Rise in Lifestyle and Crafts and Luxury, enabling him to further utilise his knowledge and experience in the high-end goods sector.
Multiple board additions
Arpels will join another new addition to the team, Dr Shekhar Mitra, who will be board advisor for product innovation. He has successfully organised 50 patents for cutting-edge technologies for the likes of Olay Regenerist, Hugo Boss and Gucci fragrances.
As president and consulting partner of InnoPreneur and YourEncore, Arpels will join existing board member Dr Ronald Bisset, who has invented over 30 US patents, produced over 60 technical manuscripts and has 32 years of skincare research experience with Procter & Gamble.
Award-winning leader Tan Yen Yen has also joined Skin Inc as board advisor for technology and innovation and is currently the president of Asia Pacific Vodafone Global Enterprise. As the company moves into the mobile-commerce sphere, she is expected to play a crucial role in navigating its entry.
Lim Teck Wee, director and chief operating officer of Skin Inc, also has a significant amount of technological experience after spending a decade at Oracle, a computer technology company, where he led the human capital cloud software for Oracle Asia Pacific.
“With the appointments of these luminaries to the Skin Inc board, the company is poised to future-proof its business and to continue disrupting the beauty scene,” Skin Inc announced in a press release.
Bringing skin care to mobile
As Skin Inc moves towards its 10th year of operation, it hopes to use its Japan-based R&D facilities to build beyond its online skin diagnostic tool 'My Skin Identity'.
The company has also recently celebrated the two-year anniversary of its portable facial devices launch, which incorporates NASA-developed LED light Chromotherapy and Low Frequency Therapy to improve skincare efficacy, increase the absorption of active ingredients and create at-home customisable skin care tools.