DevaCurl on Monday announced the appointment of Robert Schaeffler as Chief Executive Officer. Most recently, Robert served as General Manager of Henkel Professional North America, managing fast-growing brands including Sexy Hair and Kenra Professional. He replaces Colin Walsh, who left the firm earlier this year.

In his new role, Robert looks to strengthen DevaCurl’s position as the leading curly hair brand. Schaeffler will focus on accelerating DevaCurl’s growth and continuing to build awareness among consumers and stylists.

Born in Germany with advanced degrees from Asian and North American markets, Robert brings a diverse background with a keen understanding of the global hair care market. In addition to his responsibilities over Sexy Hair and Kenra, he also spearheaded the launch of Guy Tang’s #mydentity hair color line within the Henkel Professional portfolio. The #mydentity collaboration was an organic, social media-fueled partnership that successfully engaged stylists around the globe and has since rolled out to more than 50 countries in under two years.

DevaCurl is a portfolio company of the Private Equity Group of Ares Management, L.P. Acquired by Ares in May 2017 from an investment fund affiliated with Tengram Capital Partners, the company was foundedby Denis DaSilva and Lorraine Massey in 1994.