Textiles
Lenzing
The supervisory board of Lenzing AG, a leading producer of wood-based cellulosic fibers, came to a mutual agreement with its longstanding CEO, Stefan Doboczky, to end his contract effective Sept. 30.
Cord Prinzhorn, a member of the supervisory board of Lenzing, was appointed interim CEO. The board will immediately start the search process.
Lenzing said it remains on track with its guidance for the full year 2021 of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to reach a level of at least 360 million euros ($422.78 million).
Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute‘s president and CEO, Peter Templeton, will step down this fall to assume the role of interim president and CEO of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI).
The board of directors of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute named Dr. Christina Raab as its new president and CEO upon his departure. Raab joined the Institute in September 2019 as vice president of strategy and development. In this capacity, she has been instrumental in strengthening the institute’s external profile, strategic partnerships, programmatic offerings and internal capabilities.
Raab will lead the group from its offices in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The organization will also continue to draw upon the expertise of its core technical team under the leadership of Dr. Susan Klosterhaus, along with the industry knowledge of the sector leadership team established by Raab to enable and accelerate the innovation and optimization of products in high-impact market sectors, including the built environment, apparel and footwear, cosmetics and personal care, household products, packaging and electronics.
Related Stories
Since joining the institute as president and CEO in September 2018, Templeton has overseen the creation of the organization’s current strategic plan, and the development and deployment of the Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard Version 4.0, released earlier this year. The Institute has also experienced significant growth in the number of Cradle to Cradle Certified products and in its community of certification holders. Templeton will depart and Raab will assume her new role on Oct. 15.
Foursource
Godecke Wessel announced that after five years of building up Foursource, he is stepping down from his position as CEO to take a break and plan new ventures.
Jonas Wand will become the new CEO and lead Foursource alongside the remaining co-founders, Johannes Roewe and Francisco Carlao. Wand was previously responsible for marketing and sales at Foursource.
The company digitizes the marketing and sales processes of suppliers. With more than 25,000 members, Foursource is now one of the largest and fastest-growing supply chain networks in the global apparel and textile industry.
Retail
JD.com
JD.com Inc., a supply chain-based technology and service provider, appointed Lei Xu as president of JD.com, Lijun Xin as CEO of JD Retail and Enlin Jin as CEO of JD Health International Inc.
Richard Qiangdong Liu, chairman and CEO of JD.com, will devote more time to formulating the company’s long-term strategies, mentoring younger management and contributing to the revitalization of rural areas.
In his new role, Xu will be leading the day-to-day operation and collaborative development of various business units of JD.com and continue to report to CEO of the company. Xu has been with the company since 2009 and was previously CEO of JD Retail, responsible for the development, operation and strategy of JD.com’s retail business.
Xin joined JD.com in October 2012, and prior to this promotion he served as an executive director and CEO of JD Health.
The Athlete’s Foot
The Athlete’s Foot (TAF) named Matt Lafone as its new president and general manager of Americas (North, South and Central America), reporting directly to TAF’s new owner and global executive chairman, Param Singh.
Lafone will be responsible for providing leadership, strategic and operational guidance to the Americas team with the goals of driving profitable growth, building brand equity and enhancing customer satisfaction.
Lafone’s work will support TAF’s new strategic vision, set by Singh, that builds on the brand’s success in recent years. Globally, TAF retail sales are on target to hit $500M in 2021 and have seen growth above 40 percent in the first six months of 2021 versus 2020 and 14 percent above sales in 2019.
Prior to TAF, Lafone was chief operating officer for Payless ShoeSource where he oversaw design, development, supply chain, marketing and franchising for its 750 international stores.
The Athlete’s Foot has 564 stores and e-commerce shops across 32 countries, and generated sales of $400 million in 2020.
Hibbett
Hibbett Inc., an athletic-inspired fashion retailer, announced the promotion of Jared Briskin to executive vice president of merchandising.
In this new role, Briskin will be responsible for merchandising, planning, allocation and supply chain. He joined the company in April 1998 as a buyer and has held positions of increasing responsibility over the years, most recently as senior vice president and chief merchant since September 2014.
Hibbett, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., has 1,080 Hibbett and City Gear specialty stores located in 35 states nationwide.
New Look
The board of New Look Retail Holdings Ltd, announced that Mike Coupe will succeed Alistair McGeorge as non-executive chairman of the company, effective Sept. 29.
Coupe previously led J Sainsbury plc as CEO for six years until 2020, which included the growth of its Tu Clothing business and the successful acquisitions of Home Retail Group and Nectar. He is also non-executive chairman of Oak Furnitureland and Harding Retail.
Following a prior tenure as chairman from 2011 to 2014, McGeorge returned to New Look as executive chairman in November 2017 to steer the company’s turnaround strategy.
McGeorge stepped back from day-to-day operations to become non-executive chairman in January 2020, following the appointment of Nigel Oddy as CEO. Over the past 18 months he has worked closely with Oddy in overseeing the successful management of the business through the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 CVA and recapitalization, which has established a firm foundation for the company’s future growth.
New Look is a fashion retailer with more than 450 stores operating in the value segment of the clothing and footwear market in the U.K. and Ireland, with a targeted online presence.
Parachute
Parachute announced the addition of Rob Krolik, general partner and chief financial officer (CFO) at Burst Capital, to its board of directors.
Krolik has deep financial knowledge in the e-commerce and digital business space, having previously held CFO roles at Yelp, eBay, Move.com and Shopping.com.
Parachute is a multicategory home company offering products designed in Los Angeles and responsibly manufactured around the globe, using only premium quality materials.
Parachute was founded in 2014, offering a carefully curated assortment of bedding. The brand has since released its own mattress and expanded into categories throughout the home, including bath, apparel, décor and furniture. Parachute operates 12 retail storefronts across the U.S. and recently launched in Canada.
Tuesday Morning
Tuesday Morning, an off-price retailer of home goods and décor, announced the appointment of Marc Katz as principal and chief operating officer, Jennifer Robinson as chief financial officer (CFO) and Bill Baumann as chief information officer.
Katz, whose position is new, had been serving as interim CFO. As chief operating officer, he will lead Tuesday Morning’s finance, information technology and supply chain organizations.
Robinson is joining Tuesday Morning from The Michaels Companies Inc., where she most recently served as senior vice president of finance and treasurer. Baumann joined Tuesday Morning from Torrid Inc. where he served as executive vice president of customer experience and chief information officer.
Based in Dallas, the company operates 489 stores in 40 states.
Brands
Columbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear Company appointment Troy Sicotte as president of its Mountain Hardwear brand.
Sicotte served as vice president of Mountain Hardwear for the past three years. During the search for a president, Sicotte co-led the team with Mike Parker, who together transitioned the organization while still working remotely.
The company also name Monica Mirro as president of the prAna brand where she will continue the brand-led, consumer focused approach to creating clothing for positive change.
She brings extensive experience in leadership roles building strong omnichannel brands, including Under Armour and Span.
VF Corp.
VF Corp. announced that Veronica Wu informed the company of her decision to step down from its board of directors.
Wu’s decision was not the result of any disagreement with VF on any matter relating to VF’s operations, policies or practices. She was appointed to the VF board in March of 2019.
In connection with Wu’s stepping down, the size of the VF board will be reduced from 12 members to 11 members until a new director is identified.
VF is one of the world’s largest apparel, footwear and accessories companies with brands that include Vans, The North Face, Timberland and Dickies.
Technology
Attabotics
Attabotics, a 3D robotics supply chain company, announced the expansion of its C-suite with the hire of Cyra Richardson, a former executive at Wind River, Microsoft and Amazon, as chief technology officer (CTO) and chief product officer (CPO).
The company also added senior robotics leadership to its team, appointing Julien Seret, formerly of SoftBank Robotics, as vice president of network supply chain.
As CTO and CPO, Richardson will be responsible for leading product strategy, commercialization, product development and technical strategy.
Richardson most recently served as the vice president and CPO for Wind River, where she oversaw product and development teams that were responsible for evolving the company into a mission-critical devices and cloud services SaaS company.
Seret will oversee Attabotics’ supply chain approach. Attabotics is working with Microsoft and other partners to deliver a multi-tenant supply chain model for fulfillment centers to leverage data, the cloud, and shared pay-for-use robotics facilities.
Seret held multiple senior leadership roles at SoftBank Robotics, most recently serving as the vice president of global product.
Attabotics is based in Calgary, Canada, with fulfillment centers across the United States and Canada.
Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes Inc., a global technology company that provides solutions in the areas of e-commerce, shipping, mailing and financial services, announced that Ned Zachar joined the company as vice president and will be responsible for managing the investor relations program.
Zachar will report to Pitney Bowes chief financial officer Ana Maria Chadwick. Adam David, who previously led the investor relations program, will remain with Pitney Bowes to lead financial planning and analysis, and take on several high-priority strategic projects.
In his new capacity, Zachar will be responsible for maintaining and expanding relationships in the investment community, while communicating the company’s business model, long-term strategy, governance and financial performance.
Since 2008, he was a partner at KLS Diversified, a multibillion-dollar investment manager based in New York.
David will also take on additional duties within the finance team. The financial systems team will now report to him.
Browzwear
Browzwear, a specialist in 3D digital solutions for the fashion industry, announced that Derek Rathel was joining the company as vice president of North America to accelerate business growth in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Closely following the closing of a $35 million funding round from Radian Capital, Rathel’s hire is intended to speed delivery of the company’s aggressive goals for platform development and market expansion.
Rathel has nearly 20 years of experience building and leading teams across sales, marketing and customer success at B2B technology companies. At Foundry, whose pioneering design software is used by global footwear companies such as Adidas, Nike and New Balance, Rathel spearheaded entry into Europe’s luxury goods market, building a significant new revenue stream from the ground up.
In his new role with Browzwear, Rathel will focus across people, product and process to uncover market needs with new solutions that build efficiency and sustainability for customers, while driving revenue for Browzwear. Leveraging Radian Capital’s recent investment, Rathel expects to double the size of Browzwear’s team in North America, building momentum and facilitating the rapid capture of market share.
Logistics
IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the appointment of Philip Goh as its regional vice president for Asia-Pacific.
Goh succeeds Conrad Clifford, who became IATA’s deputy director general on July 1.
Goh is a 34-year veteran of the airline industry. He has held various senior management roles at Singapore Airlines in Singapore and overseas, at Virgin Atlantic Airways in London, and has extensive experience working throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Most recently, he was regional vice president for the South West Pacific for Singapore Airlines.
Reporting to Clifford, Goh will lead IATA’s activities across Asia-Pacific, a region covering 37 countries and territories and home to 45 IATA member airlines.