The sheer volume of personnel moves made in the industry the past few weeks and a few that have been unreported until now has pushed the usual back page Movers & Shakers footnote blurbs to front page news this week.
Both Retailers and Vendors look to reposition themselves in a tough business environment through changes that are expected to reverse their fortunes in a potentially improving economy.
Probably one of the bigger stories of the week came out of Mahwah, NJ as Footstar, Inc. completed the consolidation of the Footaction and Just for Feet businesses under the Footstar Athletic umbrella.
In a move rumored for some time and finally announced this week, Footstar Athletic has combined all merchandising functions under two GMMs and Store Ops under a single head. Mark Lardie, most recently Footwear GMM for Just for Feet takes the helm as SVP/GMM for Footwear for Footstar Athletic. Glenn Dopfel, who most recently ran apparel at Footaction, will serve as VP/GMM of Apparel for the consolidated unit. Lee Applbaum is SVP Marketing and Dennis Lyons will function as VP of Stores & Sales. Lyons had been running the shared services group.
Jack Bellini, the Foot Locker vet brought in last October as SVP Merchandising and Marketing for Footaction, will retain his SVP title as head of Mens Footwear for the total business. Joe Passio is now VP/DMM over Womens and Kids Footwear.
The Athletes Foot brought in long-time industry vet Chuck Eggers to run the merchandising and marketing teams as interim GMM. Chuck was chief merchant at JFF from 1997 until the sale of the company.
“Chuck is a necessary, welcome addition”, said TAF president and CEO, Bob Corliss in an exclusive interview with SPORTS EXECUTIVE WEEKLY. “The company is much better positioned from a long-term perspective since we freed up our near-term resources. His leadership in the (merchandising) area will have much more flexibility” as a result.
From Chucks perspective, he couldnt be happier to be back in the saddle with a larger organization again.
“The goal is to raise the level of communication with vendors and improve the fundamentals of the merchant group”, said Mr. Eggers. He also saw the consolidation of the merchant and marketing groups as a big opportunity.
Eggers will undoubtedly bring a high level of international expertise to the table that meshes well with the companys broadening global footprint.
The 28-year Woolco/Woolrich/Venator vet was the last guy out the door at the former Just for Feet after the Creditors Committee retained him to help complete the liquidation of the business. Prior to JFF, Eggers was Managing Director for Foot Lockers Asia Pacific group, based in Hong Kong for three years and Australia for two years.
Meanwhile, Foot Locker, Inc. senior executives confirmed for SEW on Friday that the Foot Locker USA unit has seen some changes as well. Tim Finns U.S. Footlocker group now sees Jay OBrien handling all Mens Footwear with the exception of Casual. Keven Vogl will oversee Mens Casual and Kids for the Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker nameplates and Nick Gibson will run the Womens business. Bob Butler has left the company.
Dicks Sporting Goods also made a key addition last week, adding Gap, Inc. veteran Jerel Hollens as SVP of Supply Chain, a new position that will be sorely needed as they continue their growth juggernaut. Hollens, who will report to COO Bill Colombo, will have responsibility for all aspects of the supply chain from the planning process to the sales floor, leading the areas of Store Allocation and Replenishment, Merchandise Planning and Analysis, Distribution, and Transportation. Hollens was most recently VP of Business Design and Merchandise Projects at Gap.
Rack Room, Inc. may have a vacancy at the top now as Bob Hartley exits after a recent visit from parent company Deichmann Schuhe honchos. The word on the street is that Deichmann will attempt to run the CEO slot out of Germany while keeping merchandising and operations in Charlotte, NC.
On the vendor side of the aisle, the annual fall re-organization at Reebok appears to be taking shape with a few surprises and a major shift in the structure of the U.S. apparel group. All moves are expected to be completed by early October as the reinvigorated brand moves into 2004 Q3 sales meetings.
Reebok North America will lose two tenured workhorses with the departure of 17-year team player Ken Cieplik and 13-year veteran Mike Metcalfe. Both looked at new opportunities within the company but have decided to make the move to run smaller, more entrepreneurial businesses. Cieplik was most recently VP of U.S. Field Sales and Metcalfe was VP of U.S. Footwear Sales and Merchandising. Both are expected to depart on October 3rd.
Gene McCarthy, the former Brand Jordan exec at Nike, is expected to fill the void left with Metcalfes departure.
Steve Hagen is moving back to the sales side of the business, moving to Senior Director of Team and Specialty Sales, replacing the departing Phil Parrish. Hagens former slot running U.S. Marketing will be filled by Brian Povinelli, the former Director of Marketing Communications.
in Global Marketing, Jo Harlow, who most recently VP of Global Marketing has left to pursue a new opportunity with Nokia. Harlow came into the organization as the west coast RVP in the mid-nineties and rose rapidly through the organization, including a stint in Europe running the France operation.
In other expected moves, the Mid-Market Footwear Director position recently vacated by Jeff Smith is expected to be split in two to give more focus on the Mid-Market Department Stores and Family Footwear chains. The appointments here are expected by early October.
Some of the biggest news in the Reebok shift is coming out of apparel, where the branded apparel group has been merged into the On-Field Licensed Apparel group under COO David Baxter and out from under Bob Munroes North America B.U. In recent weeks RBK has added former adidas exec Bruce Fendell as SVP of Sales for the combined unit.
The last of the branded apparel Directors jobs were axed, with 10-year man Bryan Gieser departing his West Coast slot and Bret Baker leaving his East Coast role to sell Department Stores for Russell Athletic. The moves leave TJ Kelly, VP of Apparel Sales, as the lone ranger from the mid-nineties team when the branded business was doing in excess of $300 million and Licensed Apparel produced less than $40 million in sales.
The big numbers put up at the On-Field group bolstered by Reeboks exclusive deals with the NFL and NBA and rumored to be approaching $500 million for this year — now dwarf the branded numbers by a large margin and the combination of the two apparel segments could prove to be a very smart move for the brand. As one exec put it, “It makes sense to be hooking up our navy shorts with Denver Broncos jerseys, instead of letting Nike get the sale.
In other moves last week, two former Reebok apparel executives have teamed up to take Colosseum Athletic to the next level.
John Testa, the former SVP/GM of RBKs branded apparel group and Ben Turner, the former VP of Apparel Sales at Reebok and long-time three-striper will work in new senior positions with Colosseum as the company moves to a new multi-brand strategy. Testa will be based in Los Angeles as SVP for Sales and Brand Development and Turner is VP of Sales for Colosseum and will be based in Atlanta.
Bauer Nike Hockey laid out some key management assignments as well as part of its recently announced restructuring of its U.S. Sales & Service organization. Tom Maher, formerly the Director of U.S. Sales for BNH, has been promoted to U.S. Regional Business Director, responsible for all Sales and Dealer Service in the U.S. market.
BNH newcomer Paul Healey will become National Director of Sales and report to Maher. Additionally, Matt Hayes will join Bauer Nike Hockey as Key Account Manager, responsible for managing Bauer Nike Hockey's Sporting Goods business, reporting to Healey.
Callaway Golf Company has put its first mark on the recently-acquired Top-Flite Golf business, appointing Bob Penicka as president and COO of the unit, effective with the completion of the acquisition deal. Penicka is a six-year ELY employee, most recently serving as EVP of Manufacturing in golf club and golf ball operations for the last two years. This could answer the question concerning the future of the Carlsbad ball factory.
The Timberland Company made some major moves of its own last week, appointing two general managers to run the North America and International businesses. Both will report to Ken Pucker, Timberlands EVP/COO.
Joseph Dzialo, as SVP/GM for North America, will run TBLs N.A. wholesale footwear and apparel sales as well as U.S. Consumer Direct. Dzialo was most recently president and COO of a laser vision correction surgery provider, but had previously served as president of Easy Spirit Footwear. Michael Harrison, who was appointed SVP/GM for International running, has no prior footwear or apparel experience.
New Balance Athletic Footwear continues to put together its apparel team, adding long-time industry apparel exec Brain Mangione as National Sales Manager for Apparel. He will report to Fran Allen, VP of Sales. Mangione was most recently at Lillian Vernon, but has held a number of senior apparel management positions in the industry, including a long stint at Fila.
Prince Sports, Inc. has tapped Bill Foy who was recently appointed as CEO of the Rollerblade USA subsidiary — as EVP and General Manager of the newly formed Prince USA. Foy seemed excited by the move that enables him to be heavily connected to his lifetime passion for tennis.
“Ive been big into tennis for 30 years, said Foy. “Both my wife and I have been on USTA teams
I saw it as a good time in my career to get into something I just really have a passion about.” Foy will join the Prince team October 1st and will report to George Napier, chairman and CEO of Prince Sports, Inc.
K. Footwear, Inc., the newly formed division of Geoffrey Allen, Corp. that has the license for Kangol Footwear, has appointed Mike Longo as VP Sales and Marketing. The former Fila/Reebok/Mecca Footwear sales manager will operate from the companys NJ offices.
Cutter & Buck continues to make real progress on its road back and has strengthened its product team by adding former Calvin Klein product executive Henry Fielding as VP and Manager of the Products Group. He will be responsible for the departments from product design and development through sourcing.
Many people wondered out loud to us last week if the industry was signaling trouble in the business with all these moves. The answer to the question if this is just a re-shuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic or a real move forward for each company will play out in the months — and years — ahead. Stay tuned.
>>> The Titanic reference would make sense if all moves were due to a declining business, but we see many companies on the upswing making real changes in personnel to position themselves as the market opens new opportunities…
