ALEX KUMMEROW
HERBIVORE BOTANICALS
New York,NY
15
years of professional experience
Co-Founder | Former CEO | Product & Innovation Leader built prestige beauty brands through product vision, formulation, and commercialization. Scaled Herbivore Botanicals from $1,000 in startup capital to $20M in annual revenue without outside investment, while guiding 50+ skincare, haircare, bath, and body launches. Led 100+ employees and aligned product, brand, operations, and retail strategy across national and international distribution.
Work History
Co-Founder | Former CEO | Product & Innovation Leader
15 Years 1 Month- Co-founded and scaled Herbivore Botanicals from an early-stage startup into a nationally and internationally distributed prestige beauty brand.
- Developed and launched 50+ products across skincare, haircare, bath, and body.
- Led product vision and portfolio strategy, identifying opportunities through consumer behavior, category trends, ingredient innovation, retail dynamics, and market whitespace.
- Guided products from concept through formulation, positioning, packaging, commercialization, launch, and portfolio management.
- Personally formulated products at the bench, including original formulations that entered scaled manufacturing and launched through major retail partners.
- Balanced innovation with efficacy, manufacturability, COGS, margin, timelines, consumer experience, and brand positioning.
- Partnered across manufacturing, packaging, operations, finance, creative, marketing, sales, and retail to bring products successfully to market.
- Grew Herbivore from approximately $1,000 in startup capital to $20M in annual revenue without outside investment.
- Tripled annual revenue during the company’s peak growth period.
- Served as CEO through 2020, leading product, finance, operations, manufacturing, sourcing, brand, creative, marketing, sales, retail strategy, hiring, and long-term planning.
- Built and managed teams of 100+ employees and developed organizational systems as the business scaled.
- Led strategic decision-making across product pipelines, retail expansion, budgets, staffing, partnerships, and capital allocation.
- Worked directly with leading U.S. and international retail partners including Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Space NK, and Credo Beauty.
- Helped establish Herbivore as part of the first generation of modern clean-beauty brands.
- Defined and evolved the brand’s product philosophy, visual identity, packaging language, creative direction, and market position.
- Translated changing consumer expectations and cultural trends into new products, storytelling, merchandising, and brand experiences.
- Connected product innovation with branding, packaging, photography, retail presentation, and the broader consumer experience.
- Product Development & Innovation
- Executive Leadership & Growth
- Brand & Category Leadership
- Collaborative, empowering leader with experience managing teams of 100+ people. Sets clear direction, gives talented people meaningful ownership, and creates room for teams to contribute their expertise and do their best work.
- Approaches product development as the intersection of consumer insight, creative instinct, technical understanding, brand strategy, operational reality, and commercial opportunity.
Skills
Product Development & Innovation
Product Portfolio Strategy
Hands-On Formulation
Ingredient Innovation
Consumer & Market Trends
Brand Strategy
Go-to-Market Strategy
Creative Direction
Retail Strategy
Budget & Margin Management
Timeline
Co-Founder | Former CEO | Product & Innovation Leader
HERBIVORE BOTANICALS
06.2011 - 07.2026Read More