Duo will team with Rita Rubenstein to provide the ultimate benefits to hairdressers via technical, field and special events education programs.
Keune continues to add personnel, as the company’s overall business is growing 10 times the industry growth rate! In fact, the company’s internal North American headquarters team has doubled in the past 2 years. Most recently, Keune expanded its education department’s leadership, adding two experienced pros to its powerful team. The expanded team will maximize the overall impact of the company’s Academy and field education programs to benefit hairdressers and their clients.
Chris Sulimay joins Keune as academy and technical director. In this new position, Sulimay will build programs and develop all aspects of the current and future Keune Academies. He will also direct the recruitment and development of the Keune educator network in conjunction with Jessica Mills, Keune’s new national field education manager. Sulimay will lead the development of the Keune Academy trainers by creating advanced class curricula. Additionally, he will serve as the company’s technical expert both internally and to the industry. Finally, he will support the Keune Academy by 124 cosmetology school, which operates within the Keune Academy during the week. Sulimay is also the author of ShopTalk: On Clients, Communication and Growing Your Income, a book featuring the real drivers of stylists’ income and how to increase those drivers by improving the guest experience.
Coming from a multi-generational hairdressing family, Sulimay has 20-plus years of multi-platform beauty industry experience as a hairdresser, salon owner, educator, session stylist, artistic director and salon business expert. He will serve as a member of the Keune Management Committee and will be based in Atlanta.
Jessica Mills is Keune’s new national field education manager. Most recently, she worked for the company as a regional salon specialist. In this new position, Mills will be responsible for the quality and consistency of the Keune educational message delivered to salons through Keune’s distributor network via Keune’s educational programs. She will drive the planning process for all field education, working closely with Keune’s regional sales managers to ensure that Keune’s distributors’ educational calendars will keep Keune growing at a high-double-digit rate. She also will be a member of the Keune Management Committee and will be based in Atlanta.
Mills started her career as a hair designer, specializing in corrective color and business management. She has worked as a sales educator for a major hair care company and then as a salon development manager. She has coached and mentored hundreds of salon professionals and distributor salon consultants to turn their goals into reality through strategic business planning.
“With the hiring of Chis Sulimay and Jessica Mills, combined with the continued work of Rita Rubenstein as our education events coordinator, Keune has the foundation of a team that will take giant steps in creating innovative curricula and programs for the hairstylists, colorists, salon owners and the professional beauty industry going forward,” explains Andrew Biazis, Keune’s chief operating officer. “Each team member is uniquely qualified to ensure that Keune provides the very best in education—no matter what the venue. The true advantage is that these pros have all worked together over the past few years and are ready to hit the ground running to raise Keune’s game to the next level of excellence. They will all report to me, which also gives us an extraordinary flat organization poised to take advantage of business growth opportunities.”
A family-owned and founded entrepreneurial company based in The Netherlands, Keune Haircosmetics has served hair stylists and colorists in more than 70 countries by providing the finest professional hair color, hair care and styling products for more than 90 years.
For more information, visit keune.com/na