Janet Gurwitch (born 1954) is an American businesswoman and investor. She is the founder of Gurwitch Products, the manufacturer of

Laura Mercier Cosmetics Laura Mercier Cosmetics is a French and United States, American cosmetics and skin care line that was founded in 1996 by celebrity Make-up artist, makeup artist Laura Mercier. Founder Mercier teamed up with Janet Gurwitch in 1996 to launch the ...

. She founded the company in 1995 and launched the Laura Mercier line in March 1996.

Biography

A native of

Hattiesburg, Mississippi Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County, Mississippi, Forrest County (where it is the county seat and most populous city) and extending west into Lamar County, Mississippi, Lamar County. The ci ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and graduate of the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

, Gurwitch began her career at

Foley's Foley's was a regional chain of department stores owned by Federated Department Stores (1947–1988, 2005–2006), later owned by May Department Stores (1988–2005) and headquartered in Downtown Houston, Texas. On August 30, 2005, the divisi ...

department store in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, rising to the position of senior vice president of merchandising. She then moved to

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus is an American department store chain founded in 1907 in Dallas, Texas by Herbert Marcus, his sister Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband Abraham Lincoln Neiman. It has been owned by Saks Global, a Corporate spin-off, spin-o ...

and served as the executive vice president from 1992 to 1995. As EVP, she was responsible for the merchandising strategy for all 35 stores. She founded Gurwitch Products in 1996 in order to market a boutique line of cosmetics carrying the name of French make-up artist

Laura Mercier Laura Mercier (born Michèle Mercier on 2 October 1960) is a French makeup artist and businesswoman. Early life Laura Mercier was born as Michèle Mercier in Arles, France, on 2 October 1960, the youngest of three daughters. At 16, she enrolle ...

. She sold Laura Mercier to

Alticor Alticor is a privately owned American corporation run by the DeVos and Van Andel families. It was established in 1999 to serve as the parent company for a handful of business ventures, most notably the multi-level marketing company Amway and ...

in 2006 and remained CEO until 2008. From 2009 to 2019, Gurwitch served on the boards of Drybar, Urban Decay, Tatcha, First Aid Beauty, La-Z-Boy and

Dollar Shave Club Dollar Shave Club, Inc. is an American company based in Venice, California, that delivers razors and other personal grooming products to customers by mail. It delivers razor blades on a monthly basis and offers additional grooming products fo ...

. From 2020 to 2024, Gurwitch was an operating partner at Advent International, a Boston-based private equity firm, where she served on the board of Olaplex a hair care products company. (NASDAQ: OLPX) Gurwitch is currently an investor and board member of the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

baseball team. Gurwitch was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in November 2023.

External links

Brief official biography

In the media

February 14, 2009.
Panelist at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Building a Brand
April 2018

References

*CNN/Money.com

July 1, 2004. Retrieved March 24, 2006. ;Specific 1954 births Living people 20th-century American businesswomen 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesswomen American company founders American cosmetics businesspeople American investors American retail chief executives Houston Astros executives People from Hattiesburg, Mississippi {{US-business-bio-1950s-stub