Notable companies in this week’s edition: Adidas, American Eagle, Anthropologie (URBN), Arc’teryx, Arcadia, ASOS, BackCountry.com, Boardriders, Boll & Branch, Brooks Brothers, Burlington Stores, The Children’s Place, Crocs, Deckers Outdoor Corp, Delta Galil, Depop, DTLR, Dune, Everlane, Forever 21, Hudson’s Bay Company, JD Sports, John Lewis, Kendra Scott, Kohl’s, L Brands, Lululemon, Macy’s, Marks & Spencer, Net-a-Porter (YNAP), Nike, Nordstrom, Primark, PVH, Ralph Lauren, The RealReal, RYU Apparel, Target, ThredUp, Under Armour, Victoria’s Secret (L Brands), Walmart.
Board
Deckers Outdoor Corp added Maha Ibrahim to its Board. Ibrahim, who is of Egyptian descent, is currently a General Partner at Canaan Partners, an early-stage VC firm. Noteworthy in her CV: she was one of the first investors in The RealReal (and helped guide them through their 2019 IPO).
Resale platform ThredUp added former Match Group (the parent company of Match.com, Tinder, etc.) CEO Mandy Ginsberg to its Board. Ginsberg currently sits on the Board of Uber, and earlier sat on the Board of JCPenney.
Net-A-Porter Founder Natalie Massenet has joined the Board of Everlane.
Executive Leadership
As was long in the planning, PVH announced that Stefan Larsson has officially become CEO, replacing now-Chair of the Board Manny Chirico.
Canada’s largest book and lifestyle retailer, Indigo, has appointed Anthropologie Managing Director, International, Peter Ruis as its new CEO. Ruis had been at Anthropologie since 2018, having previously been CEO of Jigsaw.
Martin Waters is being promoted to CEO of L Brands-owned Victoria’s Secret, taking over from parent company CFO and Interim VS CEO Stuart Burgdoerfer. Waters had been running VS’s lingerie division. L Brands expects the split of VS and B&BW to take place by this August.
Boardriders, the parent company of Quiksilver, Billabong, and DC Shoes, named former VF and Nike exec Arne Arens as its new CEO, replacing Dave Tanner (who will remain on the Board). Arens was most recently Global Brand President of VF’s The North Face division (we noted his departure back in October).
RYU Apparel named Rob Blair as its new Chief Operating Officer. He had been at Red Bull the last couple of years, most recently as VP Product, Consumer Products North America. Earlier though, he held various Design and Merch roles at brands including Lululemon, Gap, and NIKE.
Resale platform Depop is apparently restructuring its management team, with COO Dominic Rose leaving the company. He had started there as a Consultant in 2018, having previously worked at AllSaints and ASOS.
Arc’teryx named Stuart Haselden to the newly-created (??) role of CEO, replacing Jon Hoerauf, who is leaving the company (which is owned by Amer Sports, with other brands including Fila, Wilson, and Precor). Haselden was most recently CEO of drama-riddled luggage start-up Away and has also worked at Lululemon, J. Crew, and Saks.
Crocs named Emma Minto as its SVP & GM, Americas. She was most recently VP & GM, NIKE Women’s, North America. FYI, year-over-year, Crocs’ stock price is up about 90%. 2020 looks to have been their best year ever.
Accessories retailer Kendra Scott named Tom Nolan as its new CEO, replacing the company’s namesake Founder, who will remain Executive Chair as well as keep leading Design, Customer Experience, and Philanthropy. Nolan joined the company’s Board in 2014, then joined the company itself in 2016 as Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer. He’s been President since 2019.
Stijn Vandervorst is now President Japan at Adidas. He was in a similar role over at food giant Danone.
Vacant CEO Tracker
Coach (Tapestry) - Mar’2020
Debenhams - Mar’2020
Escada - Jan’2020
Greats (Steven Madden) - Sep’2020
Hunter - Jun’2020
JCPenney - Dec’2020
Laura Ashley - Jun’2020
Moda Operandi - Jan’2021 (Interim)
Mothercare - Jan’2020
Net-a-Porter (YNAP/Richemont) - Nov’2020
Outdoor Voices - Feb’2020
PSEB Group - Jan’2020
Roberto Cavalli - Sep’2020
Smythson - Jan’2021
Takko Fashion - Jan’2021
Vince Holding - Aug’2020
The Year+, Anti-CEO Club…
Aspinal of London - Nov'2018
Bonmarché (Peacocks) - Dec'2019
Destination Maternity - Jun'2019
Duluth Trading Co. - Sep'2019
Emilio Pucci - Jan'2019
Jack Wills - Aug'2019
Jigsaw - Jan'2019
Kookaï - Mar'2019
LXRandCo - Sep'2019
The Row - Oct'2019
TopShop (Arcadia) - Dec'2019
Wolford - Oct'2019
Bankruptcies
This past week:
None.
Possibly in the hopper…
** Dune (5 Feb 2021 - exploring CVA)
Apex Group
Aspinal of London
The Children’s Place (7 Jan 2021 - loan defaults)
Designer Brands
Destination XL Group
Express
Harvey Nichols
Iconix Brand Group
J.Jill
Nordstrom
River Island
Sequential Brands Group
Vince
Stocks on the Move (+/-15%)
Bulk Moves
As was anticipated, ASOS will be acquiring bankrupt Arcadia (with brands including TopShop and Miss Selfridge). Like pretty much all recent retail acquisitions, this one is essentially just the IP, as Arcadia’s 2,500 store jobs don’t appear to be coming along for the ride.
JD Sports is acquiring US footwear retailer DTLR for about $500 Million. DTLR operates nearly 250 stores in the US.
Hudson’s Bay Company will be eliminating at least 600 employees, representing about 5% of the company’s headcount.
Merch/Sales/P&A/Production
Lea Cranfield has rejoined YNAP as Chief Buying & Merchandising Officer for Net-a-Porter. She had worked at YNAP for several years, having left in 2018 for Matchesfashion.
American Eagle named Renee Heim as its SVP Women’s Apparel and Accessories. She was at vineyard vines for nearly a decade.
Nike exec Reham Habib joined Target as VP Brand Partnerships & Business Development.
Seshu Anne has moved over to Target as SVP Global Sourcing & PSQA, based in Hong Kong (I believe he’s focused on Home and Hardlines). He had been at Schneider Electric for the past several years. This is probably beyond the realm of fashion, but this dude has always been in electronics sourcing (Dell, Cisco, etc.). Is Target getting into the private-label electronics business?
Carrie Tahler is now a VP DMM for Macy’s Backstage division. She’s had stints at Saks and Alex and Ani.
Delta Galil tapped Kristen Quaranta as Chief Merchandising Officer for Ladies Branded Intimates. She had been at L Brands for a number of years.
Delta Galil also named Scott Crump as VP QA. He’s held a number Quality roles at Gildan, Nike, and Hanesbrands.
Boll & Branch added former Stuart Weitzman exec Michael Carrozza as VP of Planning.
John Lewis Customer Experience Director Peter Cross is leaving the retailer after eight years. It looks like they won’t be outright replacing him. (HR: eyes his job description with a pair of scissors…]
Creative/Design
It looks like Macy’s Senior Design Director Zulu Williams has left the retailer. He had been there about 16 years.
Marketing/Digital
DTC brand Everlane named Sophie Bambuck as its first Chief Marketing Officer. She has been at Nike / Converse for several years, most recently as VP of Global Brand Marketing for Nike Sportswear.
The RealReal named Orr Shakked as its Chief Marketing Officer. Shakked has held marketing roles at Shutterfly, TripAdvisor, and Hotwire.
Everlane tapped Matt Gehring to be its first GM of E-Commerce. He was most recently SVP of Growth at DTC footwear brand Rothy’s. He’s had a surprisingly large number of positions in his 20-year career.
Jennifer Acerra is now VP Customer Insights at Walmart. She’s had stints at Hyatt Hotels, Kraft Foods, and P&G.
Lululemon named former Uber exec Deborah Hyun as VP Global Brand Management.
Edward Boyle joined BackCountry.com as VP Growth Marketing. Connecting the dots, years ago he worked at Urban Outfitters, just like his new CEO, Melanie Cox. #HireWhoYouKnow
Former Gap exec Erin Brownie Matson has joined Boll & Branch as VP Brand Marketing. She was most recently head of marketing at the American Ballet Theatre.
Stores/Tech/Ops/Supply Chain
There were a lot this week, so I’ve grouped them into subsections…
Stores
Nordstrom has named former Holt Renfrew and Starbucks exec Alix Box as SVP, Regional Manager, Canada. She will be replacing Michelle Haggard, who has retired after three decades with the retailer.
Bob Neville joined Under Armour as Global VP of Retail, based in Hong Kong. He had been at New Balance for more than a decade.
Ops/Supply Chain
DTC mattress brand Casper tapped Walmart VP Supply Chain for E-commerce Charles Liu to be its new COO, replacing Greg Macfarlane.
Nike hired former Boston Consulting Group Partner Marcelo Taú as VP Head of Strategy, Global Operations & Technology.
Nordstrom tapped former Gap exec Dennis Bauer to be President, Credit & Payment Services.
Adidas re-recruited Carina Tyralla as SVP Supply Chain Management, Europe, based in Amsterdam. She was at Tom Tailor for the last four years, having been at Adidas for several years before that.
Burlington Stores named former Neiman Marcus exec Al Tresvant as SVP Global Logistics.
Jude Grigor joined PVH as VP Supply Chain. She was at Victoria’s Secret for the past decade. (Wow, that’s three people in a row from bankrupt companies landing on their feet!)
Tech
Mike Yorwerth is now CTO at Marks & Spencer. He was most recently at Bunzl for the last couple of years, but before that spent the bulk of his career at Tesco.
Niki Allen has joined Kohl’s as SVP of Technology. She had been at Boeing for nearly 20 years.
Ilona Simpson is now VP CIO & Transformation Office at Adidas. She’s held senior IT roles at Aston Martin, DHL, and Porsche.
Ralph Lauren recruited former JCPenney exec Lauren Heyndrickx to be its VP & Chief Information Security Officer.
Forever 21 named Samrat Biswas as its Chief Technology Officer. He has been at various IT consulting firms, including Capgemini and Cognizant.
Andrew Brothers has joined Primark as Chief Information Officer. He was most recently at grocery giant Ahold.
Finance
The Children’s Place announced that CFO Michael Scarpa will be retiring at the end of March. He had been at the company since the end of 2012. Replacing Scarpa will be Robert “Rob” Helm, the company’s current SVP Finance & Inventory Management. Helm will report to CEO Jane Elfers.
Related to the CEO news above, L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer will be retiring this summer. Except for a brief time away in the mid-2000s, he’s been at the retailer since 1998.
Carlos Gemmell is now VP of Finance at Nordstrom. He’s been at Nike for a number of years. #RecruitLocal
Adidas named Cecilia Yad as CFO for Argentina, I believe.
HR/Legal
Aimée Meher-Homji is now VP Global Talent Acquisition at Adidas. She was at Sodexho for the past few years, having earlier worked at various executive recruiting firms.
Marissa Tedesco is now VP HR at Brooks Brothers. She was at RTW Retailwinds for the last 5 years.
About
I have 20 years of wide-ranging executive recruiting experience. As a consultant, my services include name generation, sourcing, industry talent mapping, crafting position descriptions, and developing thorough target lists. Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tjasonbrown.