Avon names Johnson &Johnson's Sherilyn McCoy as CEO

(Reuters) - AVON (AVP.NY)Products Inc said it named Johnson & Johnson executive Sherilyn McCoy as its chief executive officer, effective April 23.

The world's largest direct seller of cosmetics, which rejected a takeover bid from fragrance company Coty Inc last week, had announced in December that it would look outside for a new CEO and that current Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung would become executive chairman.

McCoy, 53, was with the pharmaceutical company for three decades, and most recently served as vice chairman of Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical, consumer, corporate office of science and technology, and information technology divisions.

McCoy was promoted to the post of vice chairman at J&J in December 2010, setting her up as a possible successor to CEO William Weldon. But in February, J&J announced that Alex Gorsky, who was named vice chairman at the same time as McCoy, would be the company's CEO, effective April 26.

McCoy joined J&J in 1982 as a scientist in the company's personal products unit. She had been in charge of J&J's pharmaceutical division since 2009 and has held senior management roles in the company's medical device business.

Since January 2011, McCoy also ran J&J's consumer products business, which had been besieged by a series of recalls of an array of brands, including Tylenol.

In a statement, Weldon said McCoy "was instrumental in helping to bring stronger strategic focus to our pharmaceutical business as it builds a robust pipeline and launches important new medicines; and to our consumer business as it leverages the success of its iconic brands and worked to resolve some recent challenges."

(Reporting By Dhanya Skariachan and Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Maureen Bavdek)

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