The Honest Company Names CPG, Amazon Exec Carla Vernón as CEO

Carla Vernón, a veteran executive of Amazon.com and General Mills, will lead the digital-native, celebrity-founded brand The Honest Company starting in January, the company announced Tuesday. The Honest Company, founded by actress Jessica Alba in 2012, sells clean and sustainable personal care, beauty, baby and household products online and in about 50,000 retail locations in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Alba called Vernón a "strategic, visionary leader" who will continue to build Honest as the legacy brand for tomorrow’s generation.

Vernón will replace current Honest Company CEO Nick Vlahos, who held the position for nearly six years. He will remain on the board of directors.

“As a leader of the clean lifestyle movement, The Honest Company is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of this era and I'm thrilled to join Jessica and the leadership team with a fresh perspective as we enter a new chapter of innovation and growth,” Vernón said in a statement.

Total Retail's Take: In taking over as CEO, Vernón will become one of the only Afro-Latina CEOs of a publicly held U.S. company. Vernón said that would allow her to bring a fresh perspective that "can inspire our future growth and vision".

Los Angeles-based Honest Company went public in May 2021 and seems intent on growing rapidly, with an outlook to grow first half revenue in 2023 by 7 percent to 10 percent.

“Despite persistent cost inflation, economic pressure on the consumer and tighter inventory management by retailers, strong consumption of Honest products within our categories speaks to consumers’ desire to purchase clean and natural products, which gives us confidence in our growth plans as we enter 2023," outgoing CEO Vlahos said in the company's report of third quarter results.