About 10 years ago, Kristin Recchiuti took a significant career risk, opting for a yearlong maternity leave to be at home with her new baby and her two other children under the age of 4. When she returned to work, she chose a part-time role for 18 months.
“Additionally, I decided to step away from my marketing career for a period of six years,” she said. “As a marketing director, this choice was pivotal as it deviated from the established career path, and I had no clear trajectory for my return. Instead, I embarked on a challenging assignment in a different functional area that I was passionate about. Departing from the conventional ‘track’ was a significant risk, but one that I have never regretted.
“Thanks to the support and advocacy of influential mentors, I managed to navigate my way back to the commercial side of the organization. Nevertheless, the detour I undertook proved to be an invaluable opportunity for me to acquire extensive knowledge and experience in various functional areas. These newfound proficiencies have since played a pivotal role in my success as a general manager.”
Today, Recchiuti is chief executive officer of Advantice Health, a global platform of premium skin care brands, including New Skin and Dermoplast for wound care, Kerasal for foot care, AmLactin for hand and body lotion and Triple Paste for diaper and incontinence rash care. “Our diversified portfolio of market-leading brands is loved by consumers and doctors alike. Our passion is to advance skin health with science-backed, expert-loved solutions that are accessible to all,” the company said.
In four years, Recchiuti has led Advantice to 4x sales and 4.5x EBITDA growth. The e-commerce business has quintupled in size since 2019, growing from nominal sales and focus to now being the company’s No. 1 customer channel.
“The business results have been exceptionally strong, but my most proud accomplishment is not what we were able to do as a team, but how we were able to do it,” Recchiuti said. “The Advantice team shares a common drive to succeed and is undaunted by challenges. We have consistently worked as a team with a relentless focus on achieving our common goal and purpose. We have lived our core values through good times and tough times, focused on solutions and on learning from failures, without looking for someone to blame. We have worked hard, staying positive and agile with a high sense of urgency and productivity. We remain obsessively curious about the consumer and in identifying new solutions that improve skin health and well-being.”
