Sheri McCoy

“… [Y]ou can never please everyone, and you have to stay focused on what you believe is the right thing to do. And that’s what we’re doing.” ~Sheri McCoy

With over $11 billion per year in revenue, 6 million active sales representatives in 100 countries, and a recent boost in shares, Avon is faring well in 2013. Sheri McCoy is the cosmetics giant’s CEO, appointed to the position in 2012 to replace former CEO Andrea Jung.

McCoy was born and raised in Massachusetts, and received her Bachelor’s degree in textile chemistry from Dartmouth. Later, she also earned a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton and a MBA from Rutgers.

Prior to her time at Avon, Sheri McCoy spent her entire career working for Johnson & Johnson, beginning as a chemical engineer in 1982 and eventually working her way up through the ranks of product development, high-end management, and the company’s board.

In 2010, McCoy became Johnson & Johnson’s Vice Chairman. Then, a year later, opportunity knocked when the CEO position needed to be filled. But McCoy was passed up for the position, which was instead awarded to Alex Gorsky of PhRMA and Novartis. Immediately following Gorsky’s appointment to CEO, McCoy announced that she would be resigning from her position at Johnson & Johnson after 30 years of employment.

Just before Sheri McCoy’s official resignation date, Avon announced that she had been chosen as the company’s new CEO. The company had been struggling with low earnings and had just passed up a takeover bid from Coty, and shareholders believed that new leadership was needed to turn things around for the company.

Sheri McCoy has been included on Fortune’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” since 2008, being listed as #10 when she was made Vice Chairman of Johnson & Johnson. In 2012, after her appointment as CEO of Avon, she was recognized by Forbes as the 39^th most powerful woman in the world.