Brands
Timberland
VF Corp. appointed Susie Mulder as global brand president for Timberland.
She begins in her new role on April 5 and will report to VF’s chairman, president and CEO Steve Rendle. She will also serve on VF’s executive leadership team.
Mulder will be responsible for driving the Timberland brand’s core strategic priorities related to product diversification across footwear and apparel, and a consumer-led, retail-centric, digital-first approach. She will build on the brand’s new eco-innovation franchises while also ensuring continued success within the Timberland PRO business.
Mulder joins the Timberland from clothing brand Nic+Zoe, where she served as CEO since April 2012. Before that, Mulder was a partner at global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company where she was a leader in the global retail and consumer goods practice for 15 years.
Mulder will partner closely with Martino Scabbia Guerrini, VF’s president of the EMEA region, to manage this transition of leadership. Scabbia Guerrini has served as the Timberland brand’s interim brand president for the past 14 months, in addition to his EMEA responsibilities.
Hanesbrands
Hanesbrands named Jane Newman chief design officer for global innerwear.
Newman will lead design for the company’s global innerwear organization, which was recently created to leverage design, innovation and consumer insights around the world. She will be responsible for delivering innovative products across Hanesbrands’ innerwear brands, including Hanes, Bonds, Maidenform, DIM, Bali, Playtex, Bras N Things and Berlei.
Newman, who will be based in New York, will report to Joe Cavaliere, group president of global innerwear.
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Newman brings three decades of experience leading design, product development and innovation to her new role. She joined the company in 2004 as head of design for Bonds. She has since held other positions, including Hanes Australasia’s creative director, a role in which she led the design, product development, research and development and quality assurance teams.
Separately, Hanesbrands named Tracy Preston as general counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer, effective March 29. Preston brings more than 25 years of experience in leading corporate legal teams and serving in international law firms. She will be responsible for Hanesbrands’ global legal and compliance functions and will report to CEO Steve Bratspies.
Preston joins Hanesbrands from The Neiman Marcus Group, where she was executive vice president, chief legal officer, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer. Prior to joining Neiman Marcus in 2013, Preston worked for Levi Strauss & Co., where she held a number of senior legal positions, including chief counsel, global supply chain; chief compliance officer and chief counsel, global human resources and litigation.
Reebok
Reebok appointed Portia Blunt as vice president of apparel.
In this role, Blunt will lead the global apparel team and drive product excellence across all apparel product categories. She will report to Todd Krinsky, Reebok’s senior vice president of global product.
Blunt most recently served as director of apparel operations at New Balance, leading the functional areas of innovation, material design and global integrated operations. At New Balance, she also served as a member of the Diversity Council, where she was instrumental in the development of the current diversity, equity and inclusion strategy for the brand.
Blunt began her career in apparel design with the U.S. Marine Corps in Quantico, Va., where she was responsible for designing men’s and women’s uniforms. She will be based in Reebok’s Boston headquarters.
Capri Holdings
Fashion luxury group Capri Holdings Limited appointed Alejandro Martinez-Galindo as chief information officer (CIO), reporting to Thomas Edwards, executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
Most recently, Martinez-Galindo was the CIO of Walgreens, where he led a comprehensive transformation of the company’s retail digital platform. Earlier in his career, Martinez-Galindo held multiple CIO roles at General Motors.
Capri Holdings Limited consisting of iconic brands such as Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo, that cover categories including women’s and men’s accessories, footwear and ready-to-wear, as well as wearable technology, watches, jewelry, eyewear and a full line of fragrance
Kate Spade
Kate Spade New York, a Tapestry Inc. brand, announced a new creative organizational structure designed to sharpen its focus on the consumer, drive innovation and increase collaboration, resulting in the formation of two key roles–senior vice president (SVP) of brand concept and strategy, and head of product design.
These leaders will partner with Jenny Campbell, SVP and chief marketing officer, and Michele Parsons, SVP and chief merchandising officer, to ensure a consistent brand experience across all customer touchpoints.
Kristen Naiman, who has served as SVP for brand creative at Kate Spade for the past seven years, will assume the role of SVP of brand concept and strategy, effective April 1. She will be responsible for the creation, publication and socialization of brand storytelling platforms on a regular cadence, helping set the vision and lead the creation of all brand elements across customer touchpoints, as well as annual and seasonal concept, print, and color direction. She will report directly to Liz Fraser, CEO and brand president of Kate Spade.
In addition, as a result of these changes, Nicola Glass, creative director of Kate Spade, has decided to depart the organization on April 1. The brand has commenced a search for a head of product design who will lead design across all categories, including handbags and accessories, ready-to-wear, jewelry, footwear and licensed categories. During the ongoing search process, the design team will report directly to Fraser, working closely with the brand’s senior leadership team.
SoleSavy
Sneaker brand SoleSavy announced that Mitchell Holder joined its team as senior vice president of marketing.
In this role, Mitchell will be responsible for SoleSavy’s marketing and brand efforts. He joins the company’s leadership team and will report to CEO and co-founder Dejan Pralica.
Mitchell most recently led the Los Angeles Lakers marketing department, Prior to that, he led Ogilvy’s digital and social business on the West Coast and has held positions at Kobalt Music, Vayner Media and Sony Music.
Founded in 2018, SoleSavy received $2 million in funding from investors such as Bedrock Capital, Jason Calacanis’ Laounch fund and Panache Ventures. Last month, its executive team added Marco Henry Negrete, former global editorial content lead at Nike’s Jordan Brand.
Nike
Nike Inc. announced that Ann Hebert, vice president and general manager for North America geography, has departed from the company.
Hebert leaves Nike after more than 25 years with the brand. Nike plans to announce a new head of its North American geography shortly.
AAFA
The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) announced the renewal of its board of directors leadership, and the addition of 13 new and re-elected board members.
Confirmed for the 2021-2022 term were chair Colin Browne, chief operating officer, Under Armour Inc.; vice chair Sarah Clarke, executive vice president, supply North America, PVH Corp.; secretary Ted Dagnese, chief supply chain officer, Lululemon Athletica, and treasurer Kurt Cavano, CEO, Nimbly.
Elected and re-elected to the board were Deborah Weinswig, Coresight Research Inc., Sid Howard, Amann Group; Halide Alagoz, Ralph Lauren Corporation; Lisa Bate, Bureau Veritas Consumer Products; Ted Dagnese, Lululemon Athletica; Bill Ells, Vibram USA; Mike Fralix, Textile/Clothing Technology Corporation; Katherine Gold, Goldbug Inc.; Todd Kahn, Tapestry Inc.; David Miller, Minnetonka Moccasin Company Inc.; Steve Mostofsky, TTI Global Resources; Josue Solano, BBC International, and Sunny Tan, Luen Thai.
Lafayette 148 New York
Lafayette 148 New York named Vincent Ottomanelli to the newly created position of chief commercial officer (CCO).
In his dual role as CCO and chief financial officer (CFO), he will be responsible for international retail, wholesale, and e-commerce, as well as finance and accounting. He will report to Deirdre Quinn, co-founder and CEO.
Before joining Lafayette 148 New York in 2019, Ottomanelli was at Salvatore Ferragamo USA for 14 years, starting as CFO and rising to CEO and president.
Retail
Macy’s
Macy’s Inc. announced changes to its senior leadership team. Aligned with the company’s recently updated Polaris growth strategy, these changes increase agility and efficiencies in the organization.
John Harper, chief operations officer, will depart the company effective Aug. 1 and the role of chief operations officer will be eliminated, and Marc Mastronardi, chief stores officer, and Dennis Mullahy, chief supply chain officer, will report to Jeff Gennette, chairman and CEO.
Laura Miller was appointed chief information officer, effective March 15. In this role, Miller will report directly to Gennette and will be responsible for the company’s information technology platforms and teams. Most recently, she served as chief information officer of InterContinental Hotel Group. Miller succeeds chief technology officer Naveen Krishna, who is leaving the company.
Marla Beck, Bluemercury, Inc.’s CEO and co-founder, will leave the company this summer. Macy’s has commenced a search for a new CEO who, once appointed, will report to Tony Spring, chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale’s.
Chuck DiGiovanna, currently vice president, real estate, was appointed to lead Macy’s real estate function, succeeding Douglas W. Sesler, who is leaving the company. DiGiovanna will report to Adrian V. Mitchell, chief financial officer.
Amazon
Muge Erdirik Dogan was appointed as the new president of Amazon Fashion.
Dogan will be reporting to Christine Beauchamp, who was promoted to head of consumer categories for North Aamerica.
Dogan has been with Amazon for 13 years, leading category, technology and operations teams, including Baby and Beauty. Her expertise in technology and innovation will be of great value to her new role and Amazon Fashion looks forward to having her join the team as it continues to expand its selection and deliver inspiring shopping experiences for its customers.
Foot Locker
Foot Locker named Melody Ehsani as creative director of its women’s business.
Ehsani will be leveraging her new position to amplify the Foot Locker brand to the female consumer as a leader in the streetwear world through content and product development. As creative director, she will design quarterly apparel capsule collections and curate an on-going selection of Nike and Jordan products.
The Los Angeles-based designer is the entrepreneur behind ME., a streetwear brand specializing in jewelry, footwear and clothing. In December, Ehsani designed an exclusive capsule collection of basketball-inspired items for Foot Locker’s “12 Days of Greatness’ holiday campaign. Now, Foot Locker is giving her a long-term platform to reach consumers across the world, while expressing herself and her brand’s purpose through custom capsule collections.
Gap
Gap Inc. announced that Salaam Coleman Smith was elected to serve on its board of directors, effective March 22.
Smith has extensive business, creative and operating expertise. At the Walt Disney Company, Salaam served as executive vice president at the Disney ABC Television Group, overseeing strategy and programming for ABC Family and Freeform.
Prior to that, Smith spent more than a decade at Comcast NBCUniversal, where she served as president of Style Media and steered the successful scaling of a fast-growing, multi-platform television network and fashion and lifestyle brand.
Smith will be the sixth female member of the Gap Inc. board. She is currently a member of the Pinterest Inc. board.
Ross Stores
Ross Stores Inc. announced that Doniel Sutton was elected to its board of directors, effective March 11.
Sutton has over 20 years of experience in human capital leadership and since 2020, has served as the chief people officer at Fastly Inc. From 2011 to 2020, Sutton held several senior people strategy and operations roles at PayPal Holdings Inc., eventually becoming senior vice president, People, where she was responsible for global human resources.
Textiles
Better Cotton Initiative
The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) announced that representatives from Adidas, Anandi, Pesticide Action Network and Supima were elected to the BCI Council.
The BCI Council is the organization’s highest decision-making body and has a direct influence on making global cotton production more sustainable. The council is equally represented by four BCI membership categories, reflecting the entire cotton supply chain–retailers and brands, suppliers and manufacturers, civil society and producer organisations. In the 2021 elections, four seats were up for election, one in each membership category.
The four elected council members are Ebru Gencoglu from Adidas, R S Baalagurunathan from Anandi Enterprises, Keith Tyrell from Pesticide Action Network and Marc Lewkowitz of Supima.
The incoming council will determine the footprint of BCI in the next 10-year strategic period when a major shift is envisioned for BCI’s economic, social and environmental sustainability indicators.
Malouf
Malouf has hired a new creative director, Brian Bird, to lead its creative professionals across six teams.
These teams are comprised of videographers, photographers, graphic designers and writers, as well as 3D artists, stylists, set designers and visual merchandise professionals.
Bird has more than 25 years of experience in entertainment, finance, manufacturing and consumer goods for a number of high-profile clients, including projects for Google, Warner Bros. and Ferrari World. He has held roles in creative leadership at Thinkwell Group, Avery Dennison and American Funds-Capital Group Companies.
Malouf offers a wide range of products, including mattresses, adjustable bed bases, furniture, pillows, sheets, mattress protectors, bed frames and mattress toppers. Malouf products are available in over 15,000 retail partner locations in the U.S. and its growing international team now serves over 25 countries.
Logistics
Penske Logistics
Penske Logistics promoted Phil Peck to the position of president of Epes Transport from his current role as chief operating officer.
Peck assumes the role following the recent retirement of Richard Kuehn, who helped lead the Epes organization for 23 years. Kuehn will stay on with Epes as an advisor for a period of time to help with the leadership transition.
Peck began his career at Epes as a driver manager in 1995, following 10 years in the moving and storage business as a driver and operations manager. Over the last 25 years, he has served in multiple capacities at Epes, including dispatch, planning and customer service.
Peck helped the company grow its business from just 250 trucks to now over 1,550 units and played a key role when Penske Logistics acquired Epes in 2018. In his new role, he reports to Marc Althen, president of Penske Logistics.
Epes Transport of Greensboro, N.C., is one of the largest private trucking companies in North Carolina and provides truckload and dedicated contract carriage services to a variety of industries. Epes is a business unit of Penske Logistics. (Penske Logistics was founded by Roger Penske, the father of Penske Media Corporation (PMC) CEO Jay Penske. Sourcing Journal is a PMC publication.)