Brands
Michael Kors
Capri Holdings Limited announced that Joshua Schulman will be appointed CEO of the Michael Kors brand and will succeed John D. Idol as CEO of Capri Holdings in September 2022 when Idol will become executive chairman.
Initially, Schulman will be responsible for all aspects of the Michael Kors brand globally, reporting directly to Idol, who is chairman and CEO of Capri Holdings.
Schulman joins Capri Holdings from Tapestry Inc., where he was president and CEO of the Coach brand. Prior to his tenure at Coach, Schulman was with Neiman Marcus Group serving as president of Bergdorf Goodman from 2012 to 2017, and assuming additional responsibility for NMG International with the acquisition of MyTheresa.com in 2014.
Capri Holdings Limited is a global fashion luxury group, consisting of brands in 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 products.
Kontoor Brands
The board of directors of Kontoor Brands Inc., which owns the Wrangler and Lee nameplates, has elected Scott Baxter to the role of board chair.
Baxter will serve as chair, CEO and president, succeeding Robert Shearer, who has served as chairman since Kontoor became an independent, publicly traded company in May 2019, and who will continue to serve on the board as lead independent director, a role created to ensure that the non-management directors maintain proper oversight of management and board processes.
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Baxter was named CEO in August 2018 when VF Corp. announced its intention to separate its Jeanswear organization into an independent, publicly traded company. Prior to being named CEO of Kontoor Brands, Baxter was group president, Americas West, for VF where he was responsible for overseeing brands such as The North Face and Vans.
Logistics
Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force
The White House announced that John D. Porcari will be the port envoy to the Biden-Harris Administration Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force.
The Task Force was established in June to address supply and demand mismatches that emerged in several sectors as the economy reawakened following the administration’s historic vaccination and economic relief efforts. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leads the Task Force focus on ports and trucking issues. The Task Force’s leadership also includes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on food and agriculture and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on homebuilding and semiconductors.
Since the launch of the Task Force, Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation (DOT) have been engaged in extensive outreach and engagement with port stakeholders. Porcari will work closely with Buttigieg and his team at the Department of Transportation, as well as the National Economic Council to address the congestion at U.S. ports, which, along with disruptions in global shipping and rapid shifts in demand have led the cost of shipping containers between China and the West Coast to grow more than 90 percent compared to 2019.
As deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the DOT in the Obama-Biden administration from 2009 to 2014, Porcari was directly involved in overseeing port, intermodal, maritime policy and maritime-related competitive grant programs throughout the United States.
Textiles
Cone Denim
Amie Borges joined Cone Denim as senior vice president for commercial strategy.
Borges will lead the global sales team and work closely with the product, operations and manufacturing teams to drive key strategic objectives that bring value to Cone’s customers across its global platform.
Prior to joining Cone Denim, Borges served in a number of leadership roles across luxury apparel brands, most recently as vice president of sales, North America and Asia, with 7 for all Mankind.
Cone promotes sustainable practices through its Sustainblue denim fabrics, and offers collections of performance, stretch, selvage and Distilled Indigo denims crafted out of the Cone3D R&D incubator. Cone Denim operates as part of Elevate Textiles Inc., with manufacturing capabilities in Mexico and China and a global network of sales, product and merchandising professionals based out of Greensboro, N.C., New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
Archroma
Archroma appointed Thomas Bucher as its new chief financial officer (CFO), effective Oct. 1, replacing Roland Waibel, who will retire.
Bucker joins Archroma from Alpiq Holding, where he has been group CFO and a member of the executive management board since 2015. Prior to Alpiq, Bucher was group CFO at Gategroup for six years, where he supported the company’s listing and subsequent strategic repositioning.
Retail
Coupang
Coupang announced that Alex Wong joined the company as head of public affairs.
In this newly created role based in Washington, D.C., Wong will oversee public policy matters, U.S. government relations and engagement with an array of stakeholders.
Wong’s appointment comes as Coupang scales and grows its operations in South Korea and beyond, transforming the global e-commerce model by launching its services in new markets across Asia. Coupang premiered earlier this year on the New York Stock Exchange.
Wong most recently served at the U.S. Department of State, including as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian & Pacific Affairs. He previously served as the top foreign and legal policy advisor to Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign.
Coupang is one of the largest e-commerce companies in Asia, offering a variety of services, including same-day and next-morning delivery of groceries and general merchandise, delivery of prepared foods through Coupang Eats and video streaming through Coupang Play. Coupang has offices in Beijing, Los Angeles, Seattle, Seoul, Singapore, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Taipei and Tokyo.