Just promoted from director of marketing to EVP, Lucy Papa will take Montreal cosmetics firm Canderm Pharma global.

The recent financial strength of the 45-year-old company coupled with dizzying interest in cosmetic procedures meant the timing was right for expansion, says Papa. Canderm plans to do it with Alyria, its latest skin care line launched in March and distributed exclusively through doctors.

Best known for its NeoStrata brand, Canderm has rebounded from what the 14-year vet calls the company’s ‘worst year ever’ in 1999 to yearly profit increases ranging from 16% to 20%.

Alyria was created because a flood of new products is forcing more women to their doctors for advice, says Papa.

The first stop for Alyria is New York. In the coming weeks, two sales reps will target 700 doctors. The most effective strategies will be streamlined into a model to target other major U.S. cities, including L.A. and Miami. Papa says they are also planning a move into Latin America and Asia.

As acting director of marketing for five years, Papa helped put NeoStrata on the map, in part by using fortysomething Quebec actress Chantal Fontaine in the TV spots in lieu of the young women often seen in beauty ads.

In her new role, she plans to fuse the marketing strategies of the growing company’s consumer products (sold in stores) and the medical products (sold to doctors).

She says Canderm may expand its TV media buy and will continue in-store demos of NeoStrata. A free consumer info night, first held in Montreal’s Mount Royal Centre last year, was so successful – drawing 200 women to hear doctors talk about the products – that Papa plans to take the event across the country. Women appreciate the personal approach, she says, ‘it’s not that different than Tupperware parties.’