Brands
Iconix Brand Group Inc. said Peter Cuneo, executive chairman of the board of directors, will serve as interim CEO after John Haugh resigned as CEO, president and a member of the board to pursue other opportunities. The board has retained an executive search firm to assist with the process to identify a permanent CEO.
Cuneo had also served as interim CEO from August 2015 to April 2016. During his career, he has completed seven turnarounds of distressed branded businesses in the global media and consumer products sectors. From 1999 to 2009, Cuneo played a lead role in the turnaround of Marvel Entertainment Inc. as president and CEO, and vice chairman, culminating in a $4.4 billion sale to Disney at the end of 2009. He is currently managing principal of Cuneo & Company, a private investment and management company.
Iconix Brand Group owns, licenses and markets a portfolio of consumer brands including Candie’s, Bongo, Joe Boxer, Rampage, Mudd, Mossimo, London Fog, Ocean Pacific, Danskin, Rocawear, Royal Velvet, Fieldcrest, Starter and Marc Ecko.
PacSun
PacSun named Alfred Chang, the company’s executive vice president of men’s merchandising and design and chief brand officer, as president.
Chang joined PacSun in 2006 as senior buyer for men’s merchandising and has served in multiple senior positions at the company. In his new role, Chang will oversee PacSun’s design, merchandising, marketing, retail and e-commerce functions. He will report to Mike Egeck, CEO of PSEB, a new operating company composed of Eddie Bauer and PacSun.
PacSun also announced that Brie Olson was named executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for men’s and women’s divisions, and Joel Quill was appointed vice president of stores. Olson and Quill will report to Chang.
Related Stories
PacSun sells a combination of branded and proprietary casual apparel, accessories and footwear designed to appeal to teens and young adults. As of Jan. 2, the company operated 422 stores in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta appointed Daniel Lee as creative director, effective July 1. Lee was most recently director of ready-to-wear design at Céline.
A graduate of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, before joining Céline in 2012, he worked at Maison Margiela, Balenciaga and Donna Karan.
Claus Dietrich Lahrs, CEO of Bottega Veneta, said Lee will bring a new and distinctive creative language to the fashion house that will build on its success. Kering, which owns Bottega Veneta, said with the naming of Lee, “it continues to place bold and daring creativity at the center of its strategy.”
Deckers Brands
Deckers Brands appointed Steve Fasching as chief financial officer, effective July 16, succeeding Tom George. Fasching previously served as the footwear, apparel and accessories company’s senior vice president of corporate strategy, planning and investor relations. He has held senior finance-related roles at Princess Cruises prior to joining Deckers in August 2011.
Deckers brands include UGG, Koolaburra, HOKA ONE ONE, Teva and Sanuk, which are sold in more than 50 countries and territories through select department and specialty stores, company-owned and operated stores, and select online sites.
Retail
J.Crew Group
J.Crew Group Inc. named Johanna Uurasjarvi as chief design officer. Uurasiarvi will be responsible for guiding the overall design direction for the J.Crew brand and report to J.Crew Group CEO Jim Brett.
Uurasjarvi joins J.Crew from West Elm, where she was creative director of the lifestyle and specialty home furnishing company. She was the concept builder of its successful New Modern assortment and helped the brand to reach $1 billion in revenue.
Prior to that, she was creative director of Anthropologie, where she built the company’s first in-house design team. Her talent for juxtaposing clean lines with whimsical detail created the original aesthetic. In 2011, Uurasjarvi was picked as one of the most creative people of the year by Fast Company.
GOAT
GOAT, a marketplace for authentic sneakers, appointed Lizzie Francis as its first chief operating officer. Francis will report to CEO and co-founder Eddy Lu.
In this new role, Francis will oversee the global expansion and operation of GOAT and Flight Club’s retail and online marketplaces, which serve more than 8 million users globally. Francis will also focus on advancing an improved sneaker shopping experience for GOAT’s female user base, which has experienced exponential growth over the past year.
Prior to joining GOAT, Francis held executive-level operating and marketing roles focused on footwear, consumer products and services at various companies. She currently serves as founder and partner at Brilliant Ventures.
The executive leadership expansion follows GOAT’s merger with sneaker consignment firm Flight Club, and a new funding round of $60 million announced in February. GOAT now operates three offices and three retail locations in the U.S., with 400 employees.
Technology
Pitney Bowes Inc., a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of shipping and mailing, data and ecommerce, announced that Michael Monahan, executive vice president and chief operating officer, and Abby F. Kohnstamm, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, are retiring, effective July 9 and July 1, espectively.
Monahan joined Pitney Bowes in 1988 and held numerous leadership positions at the company with increasing responsibilities. In February 2015, Monahan was appointed chief operating officer, where he spearheaded the implementation of the company’s enterprise business platform and led the strategy and growth plans for the Pitney Bowes Commerce Cloud and Pitney Bowes Global Financial Services. The company said it does not plan to replace Monahan.
Kohnstamm joined Pitney Bowes in June 2013 as executive vice president and chief marketing officer, and is responsible for all of Pitney Bowes marketing and communications worldwide, as well as citizenship and philanthropy. The company also announced that Bill Borrelle was named senior vice president and chief marketing officer, responsible for marketing worldwide. Borrelle joined Pitney Bowes in 2013 and currently leads the firm’s digital channel where he is responsible for developing this channel to improve the client experience and drive sales.
Logistics
A.P. Møller-Mærsk
A.P. Møller-Mærsk appointed Carolina Dybeck Happe as chief financial officer and member of the executive board, effective no later than Jan. 1. Happe was chief financial officer of Assa Abloy, a manufacturer of door opening solutions, where she played a key role in the company’s development from a regional player to a global market leader in the sector, with annual sales of $8 billion and 47,000 employees.
Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of A.P. Møller-Mærsk, said Happe’s experience will be of great value as Maersk strengthens its core performance and accelerates its business transformation. Maerks is the largest ocean container freight carrier in the world.
Textiles
Malouf
As part of its growing global expansion efforts, Utah-based bedding accessories maker Malouf hired Aaron Womack as sales director of Latin America. As the company sets its sights on expansion into new countries, Womack will be responsible for developing and implementing international sales initiatives, with specific focus on Latin American countries.
Womack joins Trevor Fenton, international sales director for Malouf, in building international accounts and helping the company grow into a leading sleep brand around the globe. Womack will head a sales team focused on growing existing international markets and expanding into others.
He brings more than 10 years of experience in consumer products to Malouf, having previously developed and managed a business located in Mexico that serviced Latin American markets.