Rebecca Matthias, president, chief creative officer and a director at Destination Maternity Corp., will retire at the end of the apparel retailer’s current fiscal year, Sept. 30, 2010. Matthias will continue to serve in a full-time capacity until June 15, 2010, at which time she will work part-time until Sept. 30.

Matthias helped found the multichannel retailer 25 years ago as a small catalog business. After her retirement, she will remain available to management in an advisory capacity through Sept. 30, 2012.

I especially want to thank Rebecca for her strong support over the past year, says Ed Krell, CEO and a director, as we have made significant progress in improving the core profitability of our business and positioning our company for future growth, as shown by our strong financial results this past year and our strong outlook for future earnings.

Matthias’ husband Dan stepped down from the CEO spot a little more than a year ago. He will retire from the company in January, but continue to serve as a director. Krell replaced Dan Matthias. The company has not announced a replacement for Rebecca Matthias.

Destination Maternity operates 722 stores, predominantly under the trade names Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Destination Maternity, and sells on the web through its DestinationMaternity.com and brand-specific e-commerce sites. Destination Maternity also distributes a private-label brand collection through a licensed arrangement at Kohl’s stores and on Kohls.com, and recently re-launched another private-label brand in Sears and select Kmart stores.