Caleres, Inc., the parent company of Famous Footwear, Naturalizer, Vionic, Allen Edmonds, Stuart Weitzman, Blowfish Malibu, and Sam Edelman brands, has appointed Kathleen Welter as its chief human resources Officer.
Welter will reportedly oversee all HR functions for the company’s brand portfolio and its more than 9,000 employees worldwide, including recruitment, talent management, training, culture, compensation, benefits, and labor law compliance.
Welter will be a member of the company’s leadership team, reporting to President and CEO Jay Schmidt. She will be based in St. Louis, MO.
The company announced that Doug Koch, the current chief human resources officer, will remain at Caleres for a 30-day transition period to support Welter and work on special projects until his retirement at year’s end.
Welter brings nearly three decades of human resources experience to Caleres with expertise in aligning talent with strategic vision and organizational objectives. Most recently, she served as the principal lead for the HR team at Woodard & Curran as VP of Human Resources, where she oversaw senior executive recruitment and succession planning, restructured performance, development, and compensation strategies, and led the HR integration of acquisitions.
Previously, Welter was a senior consultant at Talent Equation, where she grew the company’s consulting practice by partnering with a diverse base of clients to support organizational design and team development. She is returning to Caleres, where she worked for a decade, first as director of Talent Management and then as VP of Talent Strategy and Leadership Continuity. Welter holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri.
Images courtesy Caleres, Inc.
