Retail
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. announced significant changes to the company’s senior leadership to focus on reversing recent results, addressing supply chain and inventory and strengthening its balance sheet.
Sue Gove, an independent director on the company’s board of directors and chair of its strategy committee, was named interim CEO, replacing Mark Tritton, who has left his role as president and CEO and as a member of the board.
The company also named Mara Sirhal as executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. Sirhal, who most recently served as Bed Bath & Beyond’s senior vice president and general manager (GM) for Harmon, as well as general merchandise manager of health, beauty and consumables, will be responsible for driving the company’s omnichannel merchandising, planning and owned brands strategies, while also retaining her position as GM for the Harmon retail banner. Sirhal will report directly to Gove and replaces Joe Hartsig, who is leaving the company.
In addition, the company named Laura Crossen as SVP of finance and chief accounting officer, and Susie A. Kim as SVP of treasury and investor relations. Crossen will lead Bed Bath & Beyond’s team that is responsible for executing global accounting operations, financial reporting and tax functions. She has been with Bed Bath & Beyond since 2001 and most recently served as SVP of treasury, tax and finance transformation. Crossen will continue to report to Gustavo Arnal, EVP and chief financial officer.
Related Stories
She replaces John Barresi, who resigned from the company to pursue another opportunity. Kim, previously vice president of investor relations, takes over Crossen’s previous role.
Search firm Russell Reynolds has been retained to commence a search process for the permanent CEO role. In line with the executive transition, the strategy committee will be reconfigured as Gove steps down as chair. Current committee member Andrea Weiss has assumed the role of chair and Joshua Schechter, chair of the audit committee, will join the strategy committee.
Dollar Tree
Dollar Tree Inc. announced a number of executive leadership changes to support the company’s growth and accelerate implementation of its value creation initiatives.
Kevin Wampler will transition out of his role as chief financial officer upon the appointment of a successor. Wampler will remain with the company as an advisor until April 2023 to ensure a smooth transition.
The company said chief legal officer and corporate secretary William Old, chief operating officer Thomas O’Boyle, chief strategy officer David Jacobs and chief information officer Andy Paisley are no longer with the company. Searches for successors are underway and the company is in advanced discussions with several candidates for certain positions.
Dollar Tree operated 16,162 stores across 48 states and five Canadian provinces as of April 30. Stores operate under the brands of Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree Canada.
Genesco
Genesco Inc. announced that the independent directors of the Genesco board unanimously selected Gregory A. Sandfort as the company’s lead independent director.
Sandfort succeeds Matthew C. Diamond, who has served in that role for the past four years. Sandfort, who joined Genesco’s board in 2021, will continue to serve on Genesco’s audit and compensation committees. Diamond will remain on the board.
Genesco, a Nashville-based specialty retailer and branded company, sells footwear and accessories in more than 1,410 retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland, principally under the names Journeys, Journeys Kidz, Little Burgundy, Schuh, Schuh Kids, Johnston & Murphy, and on internet websites. In addition, Genesco sells footwear at wholesale under its Johnston & Murphy brand, the licensed Levi’s Dockers and Bass brands.
Brands
Wolford
Wolford appointed Doina Ciobanu to the new role of brand sustainability advisor.
Indicative of the company’s continuous pledge toward a more conscientious fashion future, Ciobanu’s assignment is aimed at further developing and communicating the brand’s sustainability characteristics that have been implemented over the last half-decade, including durable, recycled and biodegradable creations.
She will report directly to Wolford chief commercial officer Silvia Azzali. An expert in the sustainability consultancy sector, Ciobanu is ambassador for the No More Plastic Foundation.
Ciobanu’s role is to direct the brand’s image in all activities related to aspects of its sustainable development, proposing new product ideas and communication strategies.
NIC+ZOE
NIC+ZOE, a Boston-based women’s clothing brand, appointed Jennifer Hudner as vice president of marketing.
Hudner was previously head of direct-to-consumer and integrated marketing at New Balance. NIC+ZOE partners with retailers such as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Stitch Fix, as well as over 800 specialty stores across the country. Collections are also available at NIC+ZOE stores and nicandzoe.com.
Careismatic Brands
Careismatic Brands, a manufacturer of medical apparel, appointed Sidharth Lakhani as chief operating officer (COO).
Prior to joining Careismatic Brands, Lakhani served as CEO of Healing Hands Scrubs for more than a decade.
Careismatic Brands has a distribution footprint in more than 70 countries, and a deep portfolio of medical apparel, footwear and accessories brands including Cherokee Uniforms, Dickies Medical, Heartsoul, Infinity by Cherokee, ScrubStar, Tooniforms, Healing Hands and Anywear.
Altar’d State
Altar’d State, part of the Stand Out For Good Inc. family of brands, welcomed Leila Heydari as head of design.
Heydari joined Altar’d State after working with the surf culture brand Billabong, where she spearheaded design for women’s and girl’s apparel, swim and accessories. Altar’d State is a women’s fashion brand with 128 locations in 39 states.
Textiles
Furoid
Biomaterial company GENEUSBIOTECH appointed Paul Stockall as CEO of its Parisian offshoot Furoid, a cell-based alternative to real fur.
Stockall most recently was director of Furmark, a global certification and traceability system.
Furoid is a cultivated biomaterial developed especially for the fur and wool sector. The product is molecularly identical to animal fur and wool, feels and behaves the same but offers many more advantages. The product is 100 percent animal-friendly, extremely durable and hypoallergenic, made through 3D bioprinting.
Carbios
Carbios, a developer of enzymatic solutions dedicated to the end-of-life of plastic and textile polymers, announced the appointment of two new board members–Isabelle Parize, chairman of Delsey Paris, and Juan de Pablo, professor of molecular engineering at the Pritzker School and executive vice president for science, innovation, national laboratories and global initiatives at the University of Chicago.
They will assist Carbios in achieving its goals thanks to their strategic perspectives and solid, complementary, management, marketing and scientific backgrounds. They replace departing board members Jacques Breuil and Mieke Jacobs.
Logistics
Nuvocargo
Nuvocargo, a digital platform focused on U.S.-Mexico cross-border trade, announced that Jonathan Rojas joined the company as head of supply to lead its carrier sales and operations team and execute the rollout of its new carrier platform to customers.
Nuvocargo’s carrier platform helps carriers get paid faster, save time on invoicing and reduce friction from multiple communication points and data sources, all from a centralized single source.
In his new executive team role at Nuvocargo, Rojas reports to Nuvocargo co-founder and CEO Deepak Chhugani. Most recently, Rojas was vice president of carrier management and operations at Transfix.
Technology
Modifi
Global fintech company Modifi appointed Luke Tuttle as the company’s first general manager for trade management services and Wenlong Huang as general manager for China.
Following the launch of an international shipment tracking tool last month, Tuttle’s appointment enables Modifi to further its commitment toward building a comprehensive one-stop platform for business payments and trade services. He joins Modofi from Klarna, where he served as vice president for marketing and ad solutions.
Huang will focus on distribution across all channels, including digital marketplaces. He joins Modifi from Tencent, a multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate.
Modifi is backed by Maersk, GFC, Picus Capital, Intesa Sanpaolo and Heliad. Serving thousands of exporters and importers across more than 40 countries, Modifi is present across Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K., U.S., UAE, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China and Hong Kong.