Brands
Lacoste
Lacoste has named Pelagia Kolotouros its creative design director. The news comes one month after the departure of Louise Trotter, Lacoste’s former creative director. In this newly created role, Kolotouros will oversee the collaboration between the brand’s creative teams and the creative communities and collectives engaged with Lacoste.
In 2017, Kolotouros became global creative director of The North Face, later joining Adidas, where she was in charge of collaborations with Ivy Park and Pharrell Williams for the textile, footwear, women’s and men’s collections.
Fila
Fila Holdings has named former Adidas executive Todd Klein as president of its North American subsidiary Fila USA following the retirement of Jennifer Estabrook.
The 30-year industry veteran’s appointment aims to elevate Fila’s brand equity in line with the group’s goals for the North American region under its five-year global strategy, “Winning Together.” The strategy, first announced last year, seeks to deliver unified products and marketing worldwide by redefining Fila’s brand value, building a customer experience-oriented business model and pursuing sustainable growth.
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SquadLocker
Custom apparel and gear software and fulfillment company SquadLocker announced that George Overholser has been appointed CEO. Overholser succeeds Gary Goldberg, who will transition to a president and founder title, effective Feb. 6.
Overholser is an executive with experience in scaling businesses. He specializes in transformations to drive growth, having held key leadership roles, including as a member of Capital One’s founding management team, where he headed up strategy and oversaw the launch of 20 businesses.
Retail
JCPenney
JCPenney announced the appointment of Keith Melker as chief transformation and strategy officer, effective Feb. 1. Melker will be responsible for transformation, strategy and partnerships.
In this role, Melker will oversee the transformation office, ensuring that the company’s initiatives are executed to maximize value creation, define corporate strategy as the company continues the reinvention of JCPenney, optimize corporate processes and initiate strategic partnerships that deepen the company’s relationship with America’s diverse, working-class families. Key areas of focus include driving profitable consumer traffic, enhancing inventory management, further advancing digital growth, exploring strategic partnerships, and evolving the value delivery model.
Kohl’s
Kohl’s announced that 25-year retail veteran Nick Jones has been named chief marketing and digital officer, effective in March. Reporting directly to CEO Tom Kingsbury, Jones will be responsible for Kohl’s overall merchandise strategy and all merchandising functions, including buying, digital and omnichannel merchandising, product design and development, as well as product portfolio strategy.
Jones has over 25 years of merchandising, brand, retail and leadership experience, including working with the senior leadership team at Walmart. Most recently, Jones was CEO of the beleaguered British lifestyle group Joules Group which sells online, at 130 stores and 1,500 wholesale outlet partners, including Nordstrom and Dillards.
Vestiaire Collective
French luxury resale platform Vestiaire Collective continues to invest in strengthening its global leadership team with the appointments of Samina Virk as CEO of North America and Marie-Christin Oebel as global chief marketing officer. Both will be members of the company’s executive committee.
Virk has held leadership positions at Target and eBay and, in 2015, initially launched Vestiaire Collective in the U.S. market. Oebel will report to Fanny Moizant, president and co-founder of the B Corp, and previously spent time at L’Oreal and McKinsey.
Manufacturing
Culp
Manufacturer and marketer of mattress fabric for bedding and upholstery fabrics for residential and commercial furniture company Culp revealed the planned retirement of Mike Cottonaro, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Culp Home Fashions, effective April 30.
Cottonaro will retire after 38 years with the company’s mattress fabrics division. He will work closely over the coming months with the CHF division president, Tommy Bruno, and CHF vice president of business development, Jeff Veach, to ensure a smooth transition.
Technology
Carbios
Carbios, a green biotech company developing biological processes for reinventing the life cycle of plastic and textiles, has appointed four new members to its board of directors.
Karine Auclair, professor of chemistry at McGill University; Sandrine Conseiller, former CEO of Aigle; Amandine de Souza, general manager of Le BHV Marais; and Mateus Schreiner Garcez Lopes, global director for energy transition and investments at Raizen, have all been appointed members of the Carbios’ board. The new members’ combined strategic vision, industry experience and corporate social responsibility commitments will support Carbios in its industrial and commercial plans.
TuSimple
Driverless technology company TuSimple has promoted Evan Dunn to serve as the company’s general counsel. The position oversees TuSimple’s legal department, including compliance, corporate governance, litigation and intellectual property. Dunn replaces Susan Marsch, who has held the position on an interim basis since September 2022. Throughout his career, Dunn has built significant experience in public company guidance, corporate governance, advising boards of directors, capital market transactions as well as mergers and acquisitions.
Logistics
Logicbroker
Supply chain experience management e-commerce solutions platform Logicbroker has expanded its board of directors to include Jay Topper, chief digital officer of Chico’s FAS. With more than 20 years of digital experience at e-commerce company Vitacost, language learning software company Rosetta Stone and floral wire service FTD, Topper will help Logicbreak continue to provide drop-ship, marketplace and supply chain visibility solutions for B2B and D2C e-commerce operations.