Sue Nabi: Algeria’s engineer who ran a $6bn beauty giant

The résumé does not follow a straight line. An engineering degree from a water and environmental school in Strasbourg. Twenty years climbing through the ranks of L’Oréal. The presidency of Lancôme. A luxury vegan skincare brand built from scratch in a Paris apartment. Then the chief executive’s chair at Coty, one of the largest beauty companies on the planet.

Sue Nabi has spent her career confounding the idea that where you start determines where you can go.

Sue Youcef Nabi was born on February 13, 1968, in Algiers, Algeria. Her father was an engineer, politician and painter; her mother taught French. She studied engineering at the National School for Water and Environmental Engineering in Strasbourg before earning an advanced master’s degree in marketing management at ESSEC Business School in Paris. She is a transgender woman.

The move into beauty was not obvious. In 1993, Nabi joined L’Oréal as a retail sales representative for Jacques Dessange Professional Hair Care in southwest France, an entry-level role in a company she would go on to help run. The following year she moved to a brand manager position at Gemey-Maybelline and began moving upward in the L’Oréal structure at a pace that would eventually make her the youngest CEO of L’Oréal Paris.

The Lancôme chapter is where her reputation solidified. In 2009, Nabi became Worldwide President of Lancôme, revitalizing the brand and delivering three consecutive years of double-digit growth that culminated in a record €3.2 billion in annual turnover. As Worldwide President of L’Oréal Paris before that role, she drove record growth and championed inclusivity, including evolving the brand’s famous slogan to “because we’re worth it”, a small change that carried significant commercial and cultural weight.

She left L’Oréal in 2012 after two decades and spent the years that followed building something entirely her own. Inspired by Taoism, naturopathy and a personal health journey, Nabi co-founded Orveda in 2014 with business partner and husband Nicolas Vu. The ultra-luxury vegan skincare line took three years to develop before launching in 2017, built on biotechnology-derived ingredients and gender-neutral formulations. It was not a vanity project. It was the foundation of a second act.

The third act arrived in July 2020. Nabi was appointed CEO of Coty Inc., the American multinational beauty group behind brands including CoverGirl, Rimmel, Max Factor, Kylie Cosmetics and Burberry Beauty. She became the company’s first female and first transgender chief executive. She took over from executive chairman Peter Harf, who remained as chair, and inherited a business that needed directional clarity.

She provided it through fragrances. During her tenure, Nabi prioritized prestige fragrances, oversaw the launch of Burberry Goddess, a blockbuster scent that became one of Coty’s most successful products, and built out celebrity partnerships including Kylie Cosmetics and SKKN by Kim. She materially reduced Coty’s financial net leverage to approximately three times, a significant improvement on the position she inherited. Coty’s revenue reached $5.89 billion in fiscal 2025.

The compensation numbers from that period drew wide attention. In 2023, Nabi’s total compensation from Coty reached $149.4 million, up 4,100% from the prior year, making her the fifth highest-paid CEO in the United States and producing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 3,769 to 1. The figure was a function of her equity incentive package rather than cash salary, but it placed her name in every major executive compensation discussion of that year.

She stepped down as CEO on December 31, 2025, after five years in the role, and was succeeded on an interim basis by Markus Strobel. In a LinkedIn post marking her departure, she said she would return to what she loves most: entrepreneurship, building from scratch, telling new stories, craftsmanship and a hands-on approach to business. She has since joined the board of Moncler Group, the Italian luxury fashion company, signaling a move toward governance and strategic advisory roles alongside whatever she builds next.

Her stake in Coty comprises approximately 32 million shares, valued at roughly $79 million as of May 2026. The figure is a fraction of the peak value her holding reached during her tenure, reflecting pressure on Coty’s stock price in the period leading up to her exit.

She grew up in Algiers. She studied water management. She ran Lancôme. She ran a six-billion-dollar corporation. Whatever she builds next, the pattern suggests she will not be building small.