John Demsey, group president of The Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL), has announced that Karen Buglisi has been named global brand president of M•A•C Cosmetics, effective immediately. Buglisi has been senior VPgeneral manager of M•A•C, responsible for global sales, artist training and development and finance and forecasting. In her new role she will add marketing and global communications to her responsibilities and will work closely with the creative and product development teams.

Buglisi joined M•A•C in 1998 as VP of North American sales and artist training and development. During her tenure she built an infrastructure and leadership team that has nurtured and developed a talented and dedicated team of makeup artists which now number 12,000. She has taken on additional responsibilities and two years ago added international markets to her portfolio. Under her leadership, MAC’s international business has seen double digit growth, outpacing market growth in all regions.

“Karen has superb leadership skills and has been instrumental in developing M•A•C into the number one makeup artist brand in the world,” Demsey says. “She has done a tremendous job inspiring our M•A•C makeup artists, who are at the heart of the brand and the key to our success.” Demsey will continue to have direct responsibility for M•A•C’s creative, product development and charitable efforts, including the MAC AIDS Fund, of which he is chairman.

“I have had the honor and privilege to work with a team of incredibly talented professionals over the last 12 years. I’m proud that we’ve been able to grow MAC’s business without compromising the brand’s core values, which are even stronger than when I started,” Buglisi says. “M•A•C still has great expansion potential, particularly internationally, and we will ensure that it stays consistent worldwide, yet culturally relevant in all its markets.”

Prior to joining M•A•C, Buglisi worked for Adipar, a fragrance distributor that was owned by Escada, a global fashion house, and was a field sales manager for Borghese, a global beauty company. Buglisi is a member of the Board of Directors of the MAC AIDS Fund and is on The Estée Lauder Companies’ Executive Leadership Team.