Mr. Kenneth M. Reiss has been a director of our Company since January 27, 2005. Mr. Reiss is Chairman of our Audit Committee and also serves as a member of our Nominating and Governance Committee. Prior to his retirement in June 2003, Mr. Reiss was a partner at the accounting firm of Ernst & Young L.L.P., where he served as the lead auditor for several publicly traded companies, including Toys "R" Us, Inc., Staples, Inc., Phillips-Van Heusen, Inc. and Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. Mr. Reiss serves on the Board of Directors of Harman International Industries, Inc., a manufacturer of audio and electronic products for automotive, consumer and professional use and serves as the Chairman of its Audit Committee and as a member of its Governance and Nominating Committee. Additionally, Mr. Reiss previously served on the boards of directors of each of Eddie Bauer Holdings, Inc., a holding company that operates a specialty retailer of men's and women's apparel, and Guitar Center, Inc., a musical instrument retail chain. Our Board of Directors believes that Mr. Reiss' extensive audit, accounting and financial experience and expertise and his knowledge and experience with retail and apparel companies qualify him for his continued service on the Board of Directors.
Ms. Kathy Bronstein, age 61, has owned and operated KB Bronstein Consulting, based in Newport Coast, California since 2003 and has advised numerous large public and private retail businesses, including Charlotte Russe, a NASDAQ listed mall-based specialty retailer offering fashion-forward merchandise with a core emphasis on lifestyle trends of young women in their teens and twenties, Guess?, Inc., a NASDAQ listed junior and young contemporary specialty retailer and manufacturer, Brighton and Brighton Collectibles, a women’s accessory retailer and manufacturer, Seven For All Mankind Jeans, a premium denim and contemporary retailer and manufacturer, and Styles For Less, a junior specialty retailer and other wholesale junior brands. In addition, from 1985 to 1992, Ms. Bronstein served as an Executive Vice President of The Wet Seal, Inc. From 1992 to 2003, Ms. Bronstein served as the Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of The Wet Seal, Inc., serving as a director of the Company from 1989 to 2003.
Mr. John D. Goodman, age 48, has more than 20 years of experience in the retail industry. From November 2009 until January 2012, Mr. Goodman served as Executive Vice President, Apparel and Home at Sears Holding Corporation. From November 2008 to October 2009, Mr. Goodman served as the Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors of Charlotte Russe Holding, Inc., a NASDAQ listed mall-based specialty retailer offering fashion-forward merchandise with a core emphasis on the lifestyle trends of young women in their teens and twenties. From April 2008 to October 2008, Mr. Goodman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mervyn’s LLC department stores, a mall-based retailer offering family-focused fashions and home décor, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2008. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Goodman served as President and General Manager of the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss & Co. From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Goodman was the Senior Vice President and Chief Apparel Officer for Kmart Holding Corporation. Earlier in his career Mr. Goodman held various executive positions over 10 years at Gap, Inc. Mr. Goodman began his career in the Executive Training Program at Bloomingdale’s and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1986.
Dorrit M. Bern is the former Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Charming Shoppes Inc., a specialty retailer specializing in women’s plus-size fashion, where she served from 1995 to 2008. Ms. Bern formulated a new business strategy to save Charming Shoppes from bankruptcy and grew the corporation from a $1 billion single-channel, bricks-and-mortar retailer, to a $3 billion multi-channel corporation with e-commerce and catalog direct marketing. Prior to that time, Ms. Bern was Group Vice-President of women’s apparel and home fashions for Sears, Roebuck and Co., a department store retailer, where she was the first female officer in Sears’s history and authored “The Softer Side of Sears” initiative. Ms. Bern served on the board of directors of Southern Company, one of the largest generators of electricity in the United States, from 1999 to 2008 as Chairperson of the Finance Committee and a member of the Audit Committee. She also served on the board of directors of the Brunswick Corporation, a market leader in the marine, fitness and bowling and billiards industries, from 2000 to 2005 as a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees, and on the board of directors of OfficeMax Inc., an office supply retailer, from 2006 to 2010 on the Audit and Executive Compensation Committees. More recently, from 2009 until April 2012, Ms. Bern was a trustee for Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, a REIT specializing in shopping malls and power centers in the eastern United States. In addition, Ms. Bern was a member of the advisory board for U.S. Foodservice, a division of Ahold Inc., an international supermarket operator, and a board member of the National Retail Federation from 1996 to 2008. She was the Edward V. Fritsky Chair in Leadership at the University of Washington from 2009 to 2010, and currently serves on their Foster Business School board. Ms. Bern is currently a member of The Committee of 200, America’s Women Business Leaders, and a member of the board of directors of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is also an instructor in Continuing Board Education. Ms. Bern’s qualifications as a director include her expertise as an executive in the women’s apparel retail industry and her experience serving as a member of several public company boards of directors and instructing others on board operations and duties.
Lynda J. Davey has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avalon Group Ltd, a boutique investment bank, and Avalon Securities Ltd, one of the few woman-owned FINRA and SEC-registered broker-dealers, since she co-founded the companies in 1992. She has broad expertise working with consumer product and retail companies, helping to strategically position them for success by focusing on balanced capitalization, developing strategic growth plans and optimally structuring transactions. Prior to Avalon, Ms. Davey was President of Tribeca Corp., a merchant bank with large equity investments in public consumer companies and private buyouts, and worked at Salomon Brothers Inc., an investment bank, on public offerings, divestitures, acquisitions and private placements for clients in a variety of industries. Ms. Davey currently serves on the board and chairs the Audit Committee of the Girl Scouts Council of Greater New York and is a Manager of Verite Capital Partners, LLC, a private investment fund. From 1998 to 2011, she served on the Advisory Council of Wells Fargo’s Capital Finance Group and its predecessor entity, the Paragon Capital Retail Group. She has previously served as a board member and Chairman of the Audit Committee for ICTS International, an Amsterdam-based public securities firm, a board member of Tuffy Associates Corp., a private auto service franchiser, a board member of Jane Cosmetics, a private cosmetics company, and a board member of Textus Industries, Inc., a private textile company. In addition, Ms. Davey was a founding member of the Advisory Board of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Center for Design Innovation. Ms. Davey’s qualifications as a director include her knowledge of consumer product and retail companies, her experience as an executive and her expertise in investment banking and corporate transactions.
Mindy C. Meads was President and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Aeropostale, Inc. from 2007 to 2010, where she reinvigorated the merchandise assortment, strengthened the fashion value equation and led the development and successful launch of “P.S.,” Aeropostale’s Kids Division. Under her leadership, Aeropostale became the fastest growing apparel company in the United States, recognized in 2010 as one of The Fortune 100 Fastest Growing Companies and expanding to more than 920 stores in 49 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. During her time at Aeropostale, Ms. Meads drove a 50% increase in overall sales, including a 22% CAGR in e-commerce sales, and the achievement of a double digit operating margin, leading to an increase of more than 350% in net earnings per diluted share. A seasoned operating and merchandising executive, Ms. Meads served as Chief Executive Officer of Lands’ End, the apparel retailer that is now a division of Sears Holding Corporation, where she successfully built the organization’s global brand around quality, value and service from 2003 to 2005. During her tenure, revenues grew from $650 million to $2 billion resulting in a significant increase in EBITDA. The company expanded into Germany, Japan and the UK and became the #1 internet retail apparel site in the United States. Prior to that time, Ms. Meads held a variety of executive merchandising and operating positions at Lands’ End, Sears, Gymboree, The Limited and R.H. Macy’s, all nationwide retailers. She is a former director of the Federal Reserve Board for the 7th District (Chicago) and currently serves on the board of directors of Mela Sciences, Inc, a publicly held biotech company, and is a member of The Committee of 200, America’s Women Business Leaders. In addition, she has served as a trustee of The Master School, a private high school in New York, since October 2010. Ms. Meads’s qualifications as a director include her expertise as a merchandising and operating executive in the apparel retail industry and her board experience.
John S. Mills has been President of SDE, a consulting firm that specializes in the retail sector, store operations and growth strategies, since 2006. From 2004 to 2006, he served as Chairman of the Board of G and G Stores Inc., a specialty retailer focused on teenage women. From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Mills served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Aeropostale Inc., an apparel and accessories retailer, where he was responsible for growing the company’s footprint to over 500 stores. He also served on the board of directors of Aeropostale from 1998 until 2004 and as Executive Vice President — Director of Operations from 1998 to 2000. From 1994 to 1998, he held several executive positions in operations for Federated Specialty Stores, the specialty retail division of Federated Department Stores Inc., the parent company of several large department store chains. Prior to joining the specialty store division of R.H. Macy & Co. Inc. in 1988 as Vice President of Operations, Mr. Mills held various executive positions with the company’s Bamberger’s division, Abraham & Strauss and M. Fortunoff’s. Mr. Mills has served as a private advisor to Cerberus Capital and Rosewood Capital and currently serves on the boards of directors of Marc Ecko Enterprises, a global fashion and lifestyle company, and VILLA, Inc., an apparel and footwear retailer. Mr. Mills’s qualifications as a director include his expertise as an executive in the apparel retail industry, his advisory practice and his experience as a member of the board of directors for several private companies.
Corporate Overview
= Chairman of the Board
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= Independent Director
