Brands
Nike
Nike Inc. announced senior leadership changes to continue the momentum of the company’s Consumer Direct Acceleration (CDA) after an executive abruptly departed the company in the wake of an investigation into her son’s sneaker resale business.
Sarah Mensah becomes vice president and general manager (VP/GM), North America, and Amy Montagne is named VP/GM, APLA. Both geography leaders report to Heidi O’Neill, president, Consumer and Marketplace.
Mensah now leads all aspects of Nike’s North America geography, including direct, marketing, digital, sales, consumer construct and territories. Mensah’s most recent role was VP/GM, APLA and her prior experiences include VP/GM, Jordan brand, North America and VP/GM sportswear, APLA.
Montagne is responsible for continuing to drive brand and business momentum across Nike’s most diverse geography. Montagne is a 16-year veteran of Nike, whose prior roles include VP/GM, global merchandising; VP/GM, global women’s and VP/GM, global categories.
Additionally, Aaron Cain was named VP/GM, men’s. Cain reports to Michael Spillane, president, consumer creation.
As part of Nike’s recently announced shift to a simpler consumer construct, Cain will focus on creating product with deeper insights and driving even greater specialization through performance sport and sport lifestyle for men’s. Cain began his career at Nike in 2004 and has held roles of increasing responsibility across four geographies.
Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss & Co. announced a transition of the leadership of its board of directors.
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Stephen C. Neal, current board chair, will be stepping down from the position on March 26, after reaching the mandatory board retirement age of 72. The board unanimously appointed Robert A. Eckert to succeed Neal as board chair, effective March 26.
In addition to his service on the Levi Strauss board, Eckert previously served as chairman of Mattel Inc. from May 2000 until December 2012 and was CEO there from May 2000 until December 2011.
Vince
Vince Holding Corp. appointed Jack Schwefel as the company’s CEO, effective March 29.
Schwefel, who will be based at the company’s New York headquarters, will replace David Stefko, who has served as Interim CEO since Aug. 28. Stefko will continue to serve as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the company.
Prior to joining Vince, Schwefel served as CEO of Cost Plus Inc. from 2017 to 2021. Prior to that, from 2014 until 2017 he served as CEO for Dutch Fashion LLC.
Vince Holding Corp. is a global contemporary group, consisting of three brands–Vince, Rebecca Taylor and Parker. Vince offers women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, footwear and accessories through 49 full-price retail stores, 15 outlet stores and its e-commerce site, vince.com and through its subscription service Vince Unfold, vinceunfold.com, as well as through premium wholesale channels globally.
Rebecca Taylor is a women’s contemporary lifestyle brand available at 10 stores, through its e-commerce site at rebeccataylor.com and through its subscription service Rebecca Taylor RNTD, rebeccataylorrntd.com, as well as through high-end department and specialty stores in select international markets. Parker is a contemporary women’s fashion brand that is available at high-end department and specialty stores in select international markets.
Retail
Walmart
Walmart Inc. announced that its board of directors appointed Randall Stephenson, former chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc., as a new member, effective March 3. Stephenson became the 12th member of the board.
Stephenson retired in January as the executive chairman of AT&T after a 38-year career with the company that began in 1982 with Southwestern Bell Telephone. Under his leadership, Stephenson helped transform and reshape AT&T from a global leader in mobile Internet services and IP-broadband communications to a media and telecom conglomerate after its acquisition of Time Warner in 2019.
He has served on the board of Boy Scouts of America since 2005, including as chairman from 2016 to 2018, and the PGA Tour since 2012. Stephenson was also chairman of the Business Roundtable from 2014 to 2016.
Textiles
Spinnova
Spinnova appointed Ben Selby as its new chief financial officer (CFO).
Prior to joining Spinnova, Selby held vice president of investor relations and treasury and head of investor relations positions at the Finnish cloud software company Basware since 2016. Selby’s previous, 10-year career with Bank of America Merrill Lynch included extensive financing and capital raising experience.
Spinnova’s current CFO, Petri Poranen, will take up the chief operating officer position to support Spinnova’s ongoing industrial scaling. Spinnova recently announced that it is building a commercial factory for producing its sustainable, wood-based materials, operated by a new joint venture company owned by Spinnova and its partner and investor, Suzano.
Stahl
Stahl appointed Maarten Heijbroek as future CEO of the company, starting July 1, as well as member of the board.
He will succeed Huub van Beijeren, who is retiring after 14 years but will continue to serve as a board member.
Heijbroek is currently president of consumer care at Croda International in the U.K.
With headquarters in Waalwijk, the Netherlands, Stahl works with partners worldwide to develop and deliver the necessary chemistry behind everyday materials, including footwear, clothing, cars and home furnishings. The company has identified four areas of strategic importance to help realize goals of digital transformation, open innovation, renewable feedstocks and sustainable development.
Finance
Alvarez & Marshall
Professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) appointed Paul Fanella a managing director in supply chain services within its corporate performance improvement practice.
Fanella’s end-to-end supply chain management expertise boosts A&M’s ability to deliver meaningful cost-reduction and productivity enhancements and builds upon the firm’s commitment to drive savings and efficiency results for clients.
Fanella’s primary focus areas will be enterprise cost reduction, procurement transformation, inventory optimization, change management and enterprise resource planning (ERP) value delivery. During his three-decade management consulting career, Fanella has worked with clients across diverse industries, including consumer products, retail, healthcare, higher education and industrial products. He has established consulting practices from inception, and led them through recruitment, opportunity generation, solution and team development, and client delivery.
Prior to joining A&M, Fanella spent nearly 10 years with EY, where he established and served as a principal leading the Southeast Supply Chain and the National Health Supply Chain practices.
A&M is a global professional services firm that provides advisory, business performance improvement and turnaround management services.