Retail
The RealReal, an online marketplace for authenticated, resale luxury goods, announced that after 11 years of leadership, its founder, Julie Wainwright, decided to step down from her role as CEO, chairperson and member of the board of directors.
As part of the transition, the board appointed Rati Sahi Levesque, the company’s president and chief operating officer, and Robert Julian, chief financial officer, as co-interim CEO. The board will retain an executive search firm to commence a comprehensive search process to identify a new CEO. To ensure a seamless transition, Wainwright agreed to serve in an advisory role as through the end of 2022.
Four Seasons
Four Seasons appointed Julie Bourgeois to the newly created role of senior vice president, retail.
The online retail platform and the Four Seasons at Home Collection have experienced strong growth since launching in 2019, enabling Four Seasons to further strengthen its role as a global luxury brand. She will also lead Four Seasons on-property retail strategy for the more than 100 retail outlets across its portfolio.
Bourgeois will focus on driving strategic growth for Four Seasons Retail business, including its online platform and on-property offerings. She joins Four Seasons from her most recent position as CEO of Jacadi, a luxury children’s clothing brand.
New Look
The board of New Look Retail Holdings Ltd. announced that Nigel Oddy stepped down as CEO and will leave the business.
Oddy joined the business in April 2019 and during his tenure he has led New Look’s financial restructuring, steered the business through the pandemic and overseen the company’s subsequent return to profitability. The process to identify a successor is currently underway, and the board expects to announce his replacement soon.
Brands
Columbia Sportswear
Related Stories
Columbia Sportswear Company appointed Francois Guillon as senior vice president of omni planning and fulfillment.
Guillon will report to chief supply chain officer Lisa Kulok. He brings experience in planning and digital transformation of supply chain operations, most recently in a variety of roles with Tiffany & Co.
Columbia Sportswear’s portfolio of brands for active lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories and equipment include Columbia, Mountain Hardwear, Sorel and prAna.
Head Sportswear
Head Sportswear appointed Jessica Goodman as sales director for Head Sportswear North America.
Most recently, Goodman served as North American sales manager for Goldbergh Luxury Sports, and previously as North American head of sales for Bogner of America.
Head Sportswear offers performance-oriented ski and tennis clothing with a modern design.
Kontoor Brands
The board of directors of Kontoor Brands Inc., owner of Wrangler and Lee, named Andrew E. Page, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Foot Locker Inc., as a director.
Page will serve on the Audit Committee of Kontoor’s board. Prior to joining Foot Locker in April 2001, he served as senior vice president, chief accounting officer and controller at Advance Auto Parts.
Culture Kings
A.K.A. Brands Holding Corp., a brand accelerator of direct-to-consumer (DTC) fashion brands, appointed Jonathan Yuska as president of Culture Kings’ U.S. division.
Joining the Culture Kings leadership team, Yuska will report to Simon Beard, CEO and co-founder of Culture Kings, and will spearhead the brand’s continued expansion in the United States.
Most recently, he served as president of Rastellis.com, a high growth DTC premium food company based in Philadelphia. From 2012 to 2017, Yuska was global head of Adidas’ premium apparel brand Mitchell & Ness.
Rothy’s
Rothy’s Inc. announced that it has elected Jenny Ming to its board of directors.
Ming, whose former roles include president of Old Navy and CEO of Charlotte Russe, will serve as an independent director on Rothy’s newly expanded board. She joins Rothy’s board following the December 2021 strategic investment from Alpargatas S.A., the Brazilian lifestyle brand, in which Alpargatas invested $200 million in primary capital followed by an offering to acquire approximately $275 million of Rothy’s shares from current stockholders, resulting in a post-investment valuation of $1 billion.
Supporting the investment, Rothy’s board expanded to nine total members. Rothy’s co-founders Stephen Hawthornthwaite and Roth Martin retain their seats, and chief financial officer (CFO) Dayna Quanbeck was recently appointed to the board. Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners also remains on the board and four seats held by Alpargatas belong to Alpargatas CEO Roberto Funari, directors Stacey Brown and Marcelo Pereira Lopes de Medeiros and international CFO Pablo Sande.
Rothy’s takes a whole brand approach to sustainability in manufacturing, transforming recycled materials into shoes, handbags and accessories. With a vertically integrated supply chain, Rothy’s minimizes waste by knitting each product to shape in its wholly owned factory in Dongguan, China.
With 2.5 million customers, Rothy’s products are sold directly online and through Rothy’s 12 stores. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in New York and Shanghai.
Logistics
Flexport
Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen said the company hired Amazon Consumer Worldwide CEO Dave Clark to lead the company.
Clark starts Sept. 1 and will serve as co-CEO of Flexport with Petersen during a six-month transition period after which Petersen will become executive chair. The announcement follows Amazon’s disclosure last week that Clark would be departing the company July 1 after 23 years.
Flexport launched in 2013 with its cloud-based software platform that enabled companies to manage their global shipments across all transportation modes, while also gaining greater visibility into customs, freight rates and carbon emissions. The business has since raised in excess of $2.3 billion and generated $3.3 billion in revenue last year.
XPO Logistics
XPO Logistics Inc., a provider of freight transportation services, announced that Yoav Amiel was appointed chief information officer for the planned spin-off of the company’s asset-light brokered transportation platform.
Amiel currently leads the technology organization for XPO’s North American transportation division led by Drew Wilkerson, who will be CEO of the spin-off company. Amiel joined XPO in 2018 as vice president of technology and in 2021, his responsibilities were expanded to include strategic leadership as senior vice president of technology.
XPO intends to spin off its asset-light brokered transportation platform from its asset-based less-than-truckload business, creating two separate, publicly traded companies n North America. On June 2, XPO filed a confidential Form 10 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the spin-off, which the company continues to expect to complete in the fourth quarter of 2022.
SEKO Logistics
SEKO Logistics named Kai Lincoln as its first global vice president of sustainability, taking a major step forward in its ongoing drive and commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG).
This year SEKO plans to announces goals to have all of its owned and controlled facilities and activities, including road linehaul and parcel final mile, be carbon neutral by 2050. In his new position, Lincoln will oversee all efforts in support of this goal.
Based in Sydney, Lincoln joined SEKO in January 2014 as managing director of SEKO Omni-Channel Logistics. As part of his work directing ESG efforts for the global company, Lincoln will call upon the expertise of SEKO’s newly formed ESG committee and regional business leads in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand.
SEKO delivers client-first service, expert reliability and tech-driven shipping solutions that turn customers’ supply chains into a competitive advantage, with over 150 offices in more than 40 countries.
Textiles
Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute announced the appointment of two new members to its board of directors.
The new board directors are Rives Taylor, principal and co-director of design resilience at architectural firm Gensler, responsible for the Firmwide Design Resilience Task Force and the Gensler Research Institute Resilience Center, and Marissa McGowan, chief sustainability officer for North America at beauty company L’Oréal, steward of the company’s sustainability platform in North America.
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute is dedicated to powering innovation for the circular economy through products and systems that have a positive impact on people and planet. Through the Cradle to Cradle Certified Products Program, the institute sets the global standard for products that are safe, circular and made responsibly.