Louis Desforges, Chief Operating Officer of BSLS, is the Assistant Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at L’Oreal USA. Louis has always been at the forefront of leading change and evolving the employee journey. Today, he is responsible for shaping the diversity efforts for L’Oréal USA as a business imperative to build the standard in making beauty inclusive, which highlights the value of all forms of beauty while respecting and reflecting the differences of our rapidly changing marketplace. In his role, Louis leads the DEI strategy for LUXE, he also leads the Veteran’s strategy, a robust plan that encompasses the attraction, mentoring, retention, and development of veterans within L’Oréal. Leveraging his recruitment experience, Louis leads the DE&I alignment with Talent Acquisition in a collaborative effort to advance diverse recruitment across all dimensions. Finally, Louis leads and manages the OneLUSA Mentorship program - ensuring equitable career development for our underrepresented demographics. For this work, Louis was recently recognized as 100 under 50 by Diversity MBA. Prior to this appointment, Louis was a member of the Corporate Talent Management team where he led the recruitment and talent development for global marketing across three divisions. Louis spent his first few years on the Talent Acquisition team supporting digital, global, and local marketing. Louis is a decorated Combat Veteran having served 9 ½ years in the US Marine Corps in key leadership roles. He holds a master’s degree in HR Management and a bachelor’s degree in finance. As a learning oriented, servant leader, Louis holds an ACC International coaching certification, an executive DEI strategy and management certification from Wharton Business school and an executive leadership certification from McKinsey & Company. In his personal life, Louis is a published children’s book author focused on diversity in STEM – when he is not playing Lego’s with his 5-year-old son, he spends his time creating stories where children can travel to a world where they see themselves and explore the possibilities that are not readily available in their daily lived experiences. Louis is a lifelong avid painter (oil and acrylic), sculptor and amateur photographer capturing the most nuanced aspects of our world that is often overlook.