Deciem co-CEO fired amidst controversy

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Feb 23, 2018

Skincare company Deciem announced it fired CEO, Nicola Kilner, on Instagram earlier this week. This is the latest executive shift for the company which has been making a series of controversial personnel shifts lately.

Founder and co-CEO Brandon Truaxe said that Kilner was terminated as a result of an alleged conflict with another employee. In addition to Kilner, Deciem's chief financial officer, Stephen Kaplan, also resigned this week.

Truaxe personally runs the company's Instagram account as part of his goal of "radical transparency." On February 1st he posted that he would be stepping down from his role as co-CEO to become a "worker" for the company, adding in a video that Deciem never needed a CEO.

Deciem makes the popular The Ordinary line of skincare as well as nine other beauty lines. The Toronto-based company rose to popularity over the past five years and gained a minority investment from Estée Lauder Cos. Inc. in December of last year.

After the announcement of Kilner's removal, users began posting videos and photos where they were burning The Ordinary product seemingly in protest. Kilner had previously been the public face of the brand whose sales last year were in the range of $120 to $150 million.

Despite the controversial past month, Truaxe estimates 2018 sales will be double or even triple 2017, and Deciem is on track for expansion in the US. Plans exist to open six The Ordinary stores in New York by summer of 2018, beginning with an upcoming Brooklyn opening.