Beauty Accelerate 2019

Lucy Gildea
Chief Scientific Officer
Mary Kay Inc.


As chief scientific officer for global cosmetics giant Mary Kay, Lucy Gildea, Ph.D. stands at the forefront of cutting edge skin science research. Since joining the iconic beauty brand in 2017, she has helped secure its status as a leading skin care innovator in the direct selling and cosmetics industries. Mary Kay has been awarded more than 1,400 patents for products, technologies and packaging designs in its global portfolio, and Gildea leads the company's Global Research and Development function to create the future Innovation Pipeline. She also partners with the company's chief marketing officer to develop and execute the brand’s Global Product Strategy. Prior to joining Mary Kay, Gildea excelled during a 15-year career at Procter & Gamble, working in beauty technology and beauty/skin product development. She has held senior roles, where she managed global research and development teams for upstream technologies, product development and skin measurement sciences. During her tenure, Gildea also lived in Singapore, advancing her experience with international markets. A graduate of Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, Gildea earned a bachelor of science in biology. She continued her education at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, where he earned her doctorate in cell and molecular biology, immunology and infectious diseases. As a postdoctoral Fellow, her research focused in part on developing alternative methods to animal testing for skin sensitization screening by applying cellular and genomics-based techniques.

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