Kiley Rawlins is an IR veteran with over 30 years’ experience who joined ULTA Beauty as a VP of IR in May 2019, becoming SVP IR in January 2025. She’s worked at the Michaels Companies, Family Dollar, Dollar General.
ULTA Beauty is the largest specialty beauty retailer in the US with more than 1500 stores. Ulta Beauty is also expanding its presence outside the US through its subsidiary, Space NK, a luxury beauty retailer operating 88 stores in the U.K. and Ireland, its joint venture in Mexico, and its franchise in the Middle East. The company was founded in 1990, is based in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and IPOed in 2007. Today it is a $23 billion market cap company.
How would you describe Ulta Beauty?
Ulta Beauty is the largest speciality beauty retailer in the US, offering a diverse assortment of beauty and wellness products as well as beauty services through an omnichannel experience. Our core operations are in the US, but we are also expanding outside the US, bringing our unique model to new markets.
Ulta Beauty is the original disruptor of beauty. When the company was founded in 1990, our founders understood that women shopped beauty across price points. Often a woman’s beauty bag includes lower priced “drug store” brands, like Covergirl and Maybelline, and higher priced “department store” brands, like Estee Lauder and Lancome. But, in the 90s you could only buy prestige and luxury brands at department stores, and mass/drugstores brands at mass outlets like grocery stores and drugstores. Our founders had this crazy idea: to offer a store where you could get “All Things Beauty, All in One PlaceTM. A beauty store where you could get your hair cut and also indulge in luxury and prestige beauty products as well as brands with more accessible price points. This unique concept disrupted the beauty category and changed how people engaged with beauty.
30 years’ experience working in IR, what’s changed?
As I reflect on my IR career, there are three big changes that I think have meaningfully impacted the IR role. First, was the implementation of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) in the US. It levelled the playing field for management access and impacted how practioners think about and plan investor interactions, conference calls, the information we provide on our website, and how we prepare our teams for investor meetings.
Another dynamic that has impacted the IR role is how quickly markets have continued to evolve. Technology has driven accessibility to information, speed and how stocks are traded. In some ways, I think the changes have resulted in more of a short-term trading focus rather than a longer-term investment lens.
Three is the expansion of global access. Today, in addition to US investors, I speak to investors in Asia, Australia, the UK and Europe. Technology, access to data, and the growth of the US market, has expanded the investor opportunities.
Any advice you could share about building a career in retail/consumer IR?
Regardless of the sector you operate in, ground yourself in an understanding of the business model. There are a lot of IR practioners who focus only on the numbers – historical trends and forward-looking expectations. And understanding the financial model is very important. But grounding yourself in the operational drivers of the numbers is important to building credibility and transparency. I’ve always been curious about operational models and understanding the processes of how companies deliver to stores, replenish shelves, build their assortment, engage with consumers, etc. These are the fundamentals that ultimately drive the financial results. Being able to discuss the operations, business model, and strategy is critical to sustaining trust and credibility with investors.
How would you describe ULTA as a brand?
At Ulta Beauty, we strive to create a welcoming, non-judgmental and supportive experience for our guests as they move through their personal beauty journey. Beauty has the power to make people feel better, but it’s also fun! Playing, discovering new products, and talking to other beauty enthusiasts makes shopping for beauty more of an event than a chore. With more than 60,000 associates, a convenient omnichannel experience, a diverse product assortment, and unique insights into consumer trends, Ulta Beauty can offer guests a unique, inclusive way to experience beauty.
How would you describe the culture at ULTA Beauty?
I would describe Ulta Beauty’s culture as people-centered, inclusive, and relentlessly focused on improvement. Our associates are at the heart of the business – they bring the Ulta Beauty brand to life every day for our guests – and we work hard to maintain an environment where they can bring their authentic selves to work, collaborate openly, and grow both personally and professionally. At the same time, we have a strong mindset of continuous improvement, always asking how we can better serve our guests, strengthen our teams, and drive the business forward.
How do you train relatively new senior executives for investor interaction?
Many of our senior executives have experience engaging with investors. For example, our CFO led investor relations at Johnson & Johnson, and our Chief Merchandising and Digital officer was CEO of Revolution Beauty in the UK. As we prep our leadership team for investor interactions, we focus on opportunities to reinforce key messaging and expected areas of focus. We also routinely keep our executive team updated regarding investor sentiment and key investor themes.
Ulta Beauty is increasingly international – has this changed your investor outreach?
Outside of the US, we have operations in Mexico, the Middle East and the UK, and we see future opportunities to expand our footprint in an asset-light, partnership-driven way. While our expansion outside of the US hasn’t changed our investor engagement (yet), I love the feedback we get from UK-based investors regarding our Space NK acquisition. Space NK has strong guest engagement, and we feel that connection in many of our investor interactions.
Editor’s note: at the time of this interview, Kiley was preparing for an NDR to Europe.
Given your wealth of IR experience, any tips for IROs on activist defense planning?
Every IRO should have a “break-glass” plan in place. This plan should include identifying the key internal team, an external advisory team, and communication processes that include both internal and external audiences. Table-top exercises with management, the Board and advisors can provide insights and prepare the teams for what could be a distracting situation. I also recommend that IROs routinely evaluate their business through the lens of an activist to identify and communicate potential vulnerabilities.
What about ESG?
Over the last year, ESG has been less of a focus with US-based investors. While it’s not a topic we are asked about often, we continue to publish an annual corporate responsibility report which highlights how our ESG efforts are integrated with our strategy and tracks the progress we are making against our goals.
How has technology changed the way you do investor relations?
Technology has expanded our capabilities and accelerated our speed. We have a variety of tools we use to include peer monitoring, a CRM platform, and model analysis. We are in the early stages of using AI to support our earnings process. We’ve used it to support our Q&A prep and to help us ensure that our key messaging and tone come through our prepared commentary.
What’s the best part of working at ULTA?
I’ve been part of the Ulta Beauty team for more than seven years, and I am thankful to have the opportunity to work with such an amazing team. In addition, Beauty is a fun, innovative, growing category that has the power to make people happy and more confident. I believe in our strategy and in our growth opportunity, and working with our great team makes coming to work every day enjoyable. The product samples and associate discount are added bonuses!
What are the challenges?
The IRO role is not without challenges. As the markets have continued to evolve, we’ve seen volatility and short-termism increase, which can lead to frustrating conversations and unpredicted moves in our stock price. At the same time, investor interest is increasing and sometimes, explaining the power of beauty to portfolio managers who don’t engage in the category can be difficult. I am thankful that I have a strong, collaborative IR team and an experienced, talented management team that I get to work with every day as we engage with the market and support our shareholders.
By Gill Newton, partner at Phoenix-IR. This interview also appeared in IR Impact in September 2026.
Get in touch if you’d like to feature in our next “A Day in the Life of an IRO”.