Sara Lee Branded Apparel Americas/Asia announced the appointment of E. Lee Wyatt Jr. to the new position of chief financial officer, effective Sept. 6, 2005.
In February 2005, Sara Lee Corporation announced its intent to spin off its apparel operations. In assuming the CFO position, Wyatt, 52, will be responsible for many of the new roles that Sara Lee Branded Apparel Americas/Asia will be required to have as an independent, publicly held company. He will report to Lee Chaden, chief executive officer.
“We are extremely pleased to have a leader of Lee's caliber join our team,” Chaden said. “He brings tremendous experience in managing finance, treasury, tax and strategic planning functions as well as legal, human resources and IT functions. The depth and breadth of his background, including senior positions in two publicly held companies, will be of great value to us as we establish functions to become independent in 2006.”
With 30 years of financial experience, Wyatt joins Sara Lee Branded Apparel from Sonic Automotive, Inc., in Charlotte, N.C., where he was executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of that publicly traded Fortune 300 company. Previously, he had served as vice president of administration and chief financial officer of Sealy Corporation and senior vice president of finance and administration at Brown Shoe Company. He also spent seven years at Deloitte Haskins & Sells, initially as an auditor and later in tax planning.
Wyatt earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., and a master of business administration degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
