Brands
PVH Corp.
PVH Corp. said that Stefan Larsson formally became the company’s CEO and joined its board of directors, completing a previously announced transition plan. PVH’s former CEO, Manny Chirico, will continue in his role as chairman of the board.
In September, the company communicated this evolution in leadership to ensure a seamless and orderly transfer of the CEO’s role. Together, Larsson and Chirico developed near-term actions and long-term strategies that will continue to leverage the power of PVH by remaining focused on the company’s core strengths, connecting them to where the consumer is going, and driving brand relevance and high performance to deliver long-term sustainable growth.
Larsson was first hired in June 2019 in the role of president. He has since led the company’s regional teams and branded businesses, including Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, as they have navigated through the global Covid-19 pandemic, while steering PVH toward an accelerated recovery.
Over the past two decades, PVH has transformed from a North America-based men’s wear company to one of the largest fashion and lifestyle companies in the world, with a team of almost 40,000 associates around the world.
Crocs
Crocs Inc. hired Emma Minto as senior vice president and general manager, overseeing all operations for the brand’s Americas region.
Minto was formerly at Nike, where she spent 16 years in a range of leadership roles for the footwear firm, most recently as vice president and general manager of Nike Women’s, North America.
She joins Crocs at a time of strong growth for footwear company. The brand recently announced that 2020 revenue will be the strongest in its history, with expectations for full year sales to grow more than 12 percent to a record of approximately $1.38 billion. Crocs is predicting revenue growth of 20 percent to 25 percent in 2021.
The vast majority of shoes within the Crocs collection contains Croslite material, a proprietary, molded footwear technology delivering comfort with each step.
Everlane
Everlane expanded its executive leadership team and board of directors.
Sophie Bambuck, formerly global vice president of brand marketing at Nike Sportswear, is coming on as Everlane’s first chief marketing officer (CMO), and Natalie Massenet, co-founder of Imaginary Ventures and founder of Net-a-Porter, is joining the brand’s board.
Starting this month, Bamback will lead Everlane’s marketing and creative organization, overseeing the strategic direction of the brand. Her initial focus will be accelerating Everlane’s mission, scaling the brand to reach new audiences, and continue fostering loyalty with Everlane’s dedicated customer base. She will report directly to Everlane’s CEO, Michael Preysman.
Massanet’s experience in the fashion industry and insight into the future of the consumer landscape will be instrumental in Everlane’s evolution as a key player in the fashion industry.
In addition, Everlane recently appointed Jonathan Mildenhall, co-founder and chair of TwentyFirstCentury Brand and CMO of Dave, to its board, and hired its first general manager of e-commerce, Matt Gehring, who most recently served as senior vice president of growth at Rothy’s.
Arc’teryx
Amer Sports Corp. appointed retail industry executive Stuart Haselden to the newly created role of CEO at Arc’teryx Equipment, the global design company specializing in technical high-performance outerwear and equipment.
In this new role, Haselden will lead the global business strategy with a focus on building new vertical capabilities and accelerating regional expansion. Haselden brings more than two decades of retail and vertical direct-to-consumer expertise to Arc’teryx, including Lululemon, J.Crew and Saks. Most recently, he served as CEO for global lifestyle brand Away.
Haselden succeeds Jon Hoerauf, Arc’teryx president, who has decided to leave the company to pursue other plans.
Amer Sports is a sporting goods company with internationally recognized brands, including Salomon, Arc’teryx, Wilson, Peak Performance, Atomic and Suunto.
Deckers
Deckers Brands appointed Maha S. Ibrahim to its board of directors.
Ibrahim is currently a general partner of Canaan Partners, an early stage venture capital firm, where she has worked since March 2000. Prior to joining Canaan Partners, from 1998 to 2000, she served as vice president of e-business at Qwest Communications, where she architected the company’s e-business strategy and spearheaded the redesign of Qwest.com, and previously served as Qwest Communication’s vice president of business development.
Deckers Brands designs, markets and distributes footwear, apparel and accessories developed for everyday casual lifestyle use and high performance activities. The company’s portfolio of brands includes Ugg, Koolaburra, Hoka One One, Teva and Sanuk.
Retail
Amazon
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who founded the e-commerce behemoth in 1994, will transition to the role of executive chair in the third quarter, passing the CEO role to Andy Jassy, who currently serves as CEO of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing business.
Under Bezos’ tenure, Amazon transformed from an online bookstore that survived an industrywide “dot-com bubble” that burst at the turn of the century, but grow beyond the comprehension of any of its retail contemporaries as it entered virtually every product category.
In February 2005, Amazon launched the Prime subscription memberships service at the initial price point of $79 a year, offering unlimited two-day delivery on over 1 million in-stock items. One year later, it launched Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA), allowing sellers to send their products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, which would take care of both storing and shipping to customers. These products then become eligible for Amazon Prime, thus growing the available assortment and selection for customers.
Amazon didn’t make its first profit until the fourth quarter of 2001, and didn’t have its first profitable year until 2003. But as more consumers continued to shop online in the following two decades, profits became more consistent. And once e-commerce became the established norm, Amazon saw exponential profit growth, breaking $500 million in profit in a single quarter by 2016. That number now seems minuscule for Amazon, which reported that the 2020 holiday quarter brought in net income of $7.2 billion.
In January 2020, Amazon surpassed a $1 trillion market cap under Bezos’ leadership. The rapid consumer shift attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic nearly doubled that, with the company worth more than $1.6 trillion as of Tuesday.
Bezos said he will stay engaged in Amazon projects but will also have more time to focus on the Bezos Earth Fund, his Blue Origin spaceship company, The Washington Post and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.
L Brands
L Brands Inc. announced that Stuart Burgdoerfer has communicated to its board of directors his desire to retire as chief financial officer (CFO) of L Brands and interim CEO of the Victoria’s Secret business.
Martin Waters, currently CEO of Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, has been promoted to CEO of the Victoria’s Secret business. Waters will report to Andrew Meslow, CEO of L Brands.
Burgdoerfer will remain in his CFO role through August. The company has initiated a search for Burgdoerfer’s successor as CFO, which will include both internal and external candidates.
The board and management said they remain committed to separating the Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works businesses. All options, including a spin-off of the Victoria’s Secret business into a public company or a private sale of the business, are being evaluated. Burgdoerfer will continue to lead this process in his role as L Brands CFO.
Waters joined L Brands in 2008 as head of the international division and was promoted in November 2020 to CEO of Victoria’s Secret Lingerie. Under his leadership, the international business has expanded from the early phases of incubation to more than 700 stores globally.
L Brands, through Victoria’s Secret, Pink and Bath & Body Works, operates 2,669 company-operated specialty stores in the United States, Canada and Greater China, and its brands are also sold in more than 700 franchised locations worldwide.
Children’s Place
The Children’s Place Inc. announced that Robert F. Helm, senior vice president of finance and inventory management, was appointed chief financial officer (CFO), effective April 1. Michael Scarpa has decided to retire from The Children’s Place, effective March 31.
Helm joined The Children’s Place in 2016 and has taken on roles of increasing responsibility over the past few years in preparation for the CFO role, including his appointment as principal accounting officer in November 2018, and culminating in his appointment as senior vice president of finance and inventory management in November 2019.
In his current role, Helm oversees financial planning and analysis, financial reporting, accounting operations, tax, treasury, investor relations and inventory management. In the CFO role, he will take on added responsibility for internal audit, reporting to Jane Elfers, president and CEO.
The Children’s Place designs, contracts to manufacture, sells at retail and wholesale, and licenses to sell fashionable merchandise predominantly at value prices, primarily under the proprietary The Children’s Place, Place, Baby Place and Gymboree brand names. As of Oct. 31, the company had 809 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, online stores at childrensplace.com and gymboree.com, and its eight international franchise partners had 252 international points of distribution in 19 countries.
RILA
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) appointed Patrick Brady as senior director for state affairs and advocacy.
In this role, Brady will support the organization’s advocacy efforts before state and local governments, working collaboratively with member companies and our state retail association partners to advance the top priorities of leading retailers.
Prior to joining RILA, Brady was a director for policy engagement at the Society for Human Resource Management, managing its labor and employment, civil rights and workforce development legislative portfolio.
Nordstrom
Nordstrom Inc. announced that Alix Box joined the company as senior vice president and regional manager for Canada. Michelle Haggard, who previously served in this role, has retired after 30 years with Nordstrom.
Box has extensive experience leading retail and hospitality operations in Canada, including 10 years at Starbucks, where she was vice president of Canada operations, seven years at Holt Renfrew supporting store operations and marketing and three years as president and CEO of Second Cup. Most recently, she was chief customer officer at LCBO, where she led the retail network of 675 stores to operate safely during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Canada region supported by Box and her team based in Toronto is comprised of six Nordstrom stores, seven Nordstrom Rack units and the recently launched Canadian e-commerce site Nordstrom.ca.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. announced the election of Kenneth Robinson as a director. Robinson will serve as a member of the board’s audit and finance committee.
He was most recently senior vice president for audit and controls at Exelon Corporation, a Fortune 100 energy company. Prior to that, Robinson spent nearly four decades at The Procter & Gamble Company, where he held various positions in its consumer and industrial sectors.
With Robinson’s election, the company’s board expands to 13, comprised of 12 non-associate independent directors, and Fran Horowitz, the company’s CEO.
Textiles
American Textiles
Bedding manufacturer American Textile Company announced that Karl Herleman joined the company as senior vice president of information technology (IT).
The move reflects the company’s continuing transformation into a digitally focused, consumer-first partner to leading retailers. Herleman will be responsible for accelerating the implementation of systems that help to create a world-class omnichannel customer experience with the company’s retail partners, inform decision-making and streamline workflows.
Herleman joins ATC from Management Science Associates, where he was senior vice president of IT, strategy and innovation for eight years. Prior to that, Herleman was the chief information officer at Miami Dade College.
American Textile Company was recently recognized for its Tranquility brand, which was the No. 1-selling weighted blanket brand in 2020, according to global analytics firm NPD.
Pittsburgh-based American Textile Company is a provider of performance sleep solutions to retail, hospitality and government. Its portfolio includes the bedding brand AllerEase, weighted-blanket brand Tranquility, and mattress brands Sealy and Tempur-Pedic.
Technology
Aptos
Aptos, a retail technology solutions firm, hired Karthik Mani as chief product officer.
In this role, Mani will oversee the company’s product management and product development organizations on a global basis. Prior to Aptos, Mani served as executive vice president and chief product officer for LLamasoft.
His addition to Aptos’ executive leadership team follows other recent executive appointments, including CEO Pete Sinisgalli, who joined Aptos in November.
