Avon says Fred Hassan resigns from board due to other commitments

Avon Products Inc said on Friday that Fred Hassan has resigned from its board and that the chief financial officer will temporarily fill a spot.

Hassan, a longtime board member, wants to focus more time on his other professional commitments, Avon said.

The world's largest direct seller of cosmetics said CFO Kimberly Ross will join the board on May 2 in order to maintain the minimum number of directors required. It added that Ross will step down from the board once the company finds a new independent director.

Hassan, who joined Avon's board in 1999, is non-executive chairman of Bausch + Lomb, a managing director and partner at private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC, and on the board of Time Warner Inc.