OUAI's New CEO Follows Glossier: The Operator-Over-Founder Transition Pattern Is Accelerating

Susan Kim joins OUAI on May 19, 2026, after five years as CEO of Kopari Beauty. Her predecessor Colin Walsh left in September 2025 to become CEO of Glossier — itself a founder-led brand (Emily Weiss) that has been managed by professional operators since 2022.

Both OUAI (owned by P&G since 2021) and Glossier (private equity-backed, with a complex capital structure) are making the same structural bet: that professional operators with vertical-specific retail, digital, and brand-building experience can scale founder-identity brands better than founders themselves or generalist executives.

Susan Kim's career arc is notable: L'Oréal (2010–2011), Benefit Cosmetics (seven years), Huda Beauty (two years as SVP Marketing and Digital), then Kopari CEO (2020–present). That is a specific profile: French beauty conglomerate training, indie brand execution, digital-first brand scaling, then clean-adjacent body care P&L ownership.

OUAI's stated priorities under Kim: international expansion (Middle East called out specifically), digital acceleration (Amazon sales up 50% year-over-year on repeat purchases), and maintaining luxury positioning inside P&G's portfolio architecture. Jen Atkin remains as Chief Creative Officer — the Hailey Bieber model (founder as brand steward, operator as scale engine) applied to an acquired indie brand inside a consumer goods conglomerate.

The watch item: OUAI's Detox Shampoo is Sephora's current top-selling wash product. Sustaining category leadership inside Sephora's haircare assortment — which now includes a growing number of K-beauty and clinical brands — is the operational test Kim faces immediately.