Ulta Beauty announced today that it has hired Samsung executive Michelle Crossan-Matos as its new chief marketing officer, following the death last June of Shelley Haus, who had been CMO for two years.

Crossan-Matos starts her role with the Bolingbrook, Illinois-based cosmetics giant today. Working in beauty is a return to her early marketing roots—at Procter & Gamble a decade ago, Crossan-Matos held positions in skincare, cosmetics and fragrance. She also has experience at Vertu, a British seller of luxury mobile phones, where she worked prior to joining Samsung.

Crossan-Matos worked at Samsung for the past five years, most recently as chief marketing, citizenship and communications officer, where she handled brand experiences and social impact programs as well as U.S. consumer and B2B marketing and communications.

At Ulta, Crossan-Matos is leading the retailer's marketing and lucrative loyalty program. She’s also in charge of store design, public relations, consumer insight and media.

Well-known in the industry, Haus had been with Ulta for nearly a decade before her death from cancer at the age of 49. An Ad Age Leading Woman honoree in 2021, she oversaw several of Ulta’s marketing initiatives, including its push for more diversity in its marketing and its successful shop-in-shop collaboration with Target.

Despite the lackluster economy and rising prices, Ulta has been enjoying robust sales growth, possibly as consumers engage in the so-called “lipstick effect” of buying small goods during challenging financial times. In its most recent quarter, Ulta generated net sales of $2.3 billion, a 17.2% rise over the year-earlier period. Net income rose 27.5% year over year to $274.6. million. The company has been continuing its diversity efforts—it recently hired its first VP of DE&I and talent acquisition, Kim Adams, from Papa Johns.