An Verhulst-Santos began her career at L’Oréal in 1991, in the Professional Products Division (PPD) of L’Oréal in Belgium. L’Oréal’s PPD is targeted at hair salons and aims to develop the hair industry in a sustainable way and for the benefit of all. Between 2005 and 2009, An Verhulst-Santos did an exemplary job as Director of this division in Brazil. She launched the “Hairdressers against AIDS” project in the country, a global preventive education program of L’Oréal in partnership with UNESCO to promote health and prevent AIDS. From 2009 to 2011, An was the President of PPD in the United States. There, she worked on the integration of SalonCentric, the distribution operation of L’Oréal USA’s Professional Products. SalonCentric now operates in over 40 states in the United States, as well as in Canada, for the distribution of professional brands.
From 2011 to 2016, she was a member of the L’Oréal Group Executive Committee as Global President of the Professional Products Division, the group’s founding division. Reporting directly to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jean-Paul Agon. The division’s global positioning was strengthened having continuously gained market share over the 5 years. In 2017, An was appointed President and General Manager of L’Oréal in Brazil, the 4th largest beauty market in the world, where she led a team of over 3,000 employees. On July 1, 2021, she became the first female CEO of L’Oréal in Canada, one of the multinational’s largest subsidiaries in the world, ranking among the L’Oréal Group’s Top 10.
An Verhulst-Santos holds a degree in commercial engineering from the Solvay Business School in Brussels and a master’s degree in fashion management from the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris.