Luggage retailer Away appointed Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s (No. 82) chief operating officer Stuart Haselden as its new CEO to help travel lifestyle startup expand. He replaces Away’s co-founder and CEO Steph Korey.
Away made the announcement just days after The Verge published a story about the luggage brand’s “toxic” work environment. Although, Haselden’s appointment follows an eight-month recruitment process, co-founder Steph Korey said in a statement. Haselden is set to start his new role on Jan. 13 and will join Away co-founders Jen Rubio and Korey on the board. Away is No. 488 in the 2019 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000.
Haselden’s appointment “will be transformative for Away’s next phase of growth,” said Korey, who will assume the role of executive chairman.
During Haselden’s five-year tenure at Lululemon, he helped the company double its revenue and increase its market cap from $6 billion to nearly $30 billion, Away said in its statement. He also previously served as the chief financial officer of J. Crew Group Inc. (No. 62) for nine years.
“We’re grateful for Stuart’s leadership and commitment to Lululemon, and we appreciate the role he played to build our infrastructure and support our international growth,” said Calvin McDonald, CEO of Lululemon.
In other ecommerce personnel news:
- After two years as president of Macy’s Inc. (No. 5), Hal Lawton resigned from his position. Lawton will join Tractor Supply Co. (No. 504) as CEO. So far, Macy’s has not found a replacement. “Hal has made significant contributions to the business over the past two years including improving the Macy’s operational cadence,” said Jeff Gennette, chairman and CEO. “Hal also helped us build an excellent team and with their leadership I’m confident that Macy’s will continue strong execution through holiday 2019 and beyond.”
- Apparel retailer Lands’ End (No. 59) appointed David Witkewicz as vice president and head of design. Prior to joining Lands’ End, he was vice president of women’s design at apparel retailer Kenneth Cole (No. 558), and he held roles in design teams at apparel retailer New York and Co. Inc. (No. 202), fashion brand Coach (owned by Tapestry, No. 195), Target Corp. (No. 16) and Saks Fifth Avenue (owned by Hudson’s Bay Co., No. 41).
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NakedWines.com Inc. (No. 259) CEO and founder Rowan Gormley plans to step down after the holiday season. The wine retailer’s current chief operating officer, Nick Devlin, will replace him as CEO when he departs. Naked Wines said his resignation was part of “a number of important changes to enable Naked to enter the next chapter of growth.”
- Furniture manufacturer and retailer Herman Miller Inc. (No. 487) named Debbie Propst as president, Herman Miller Retail. Propst will lead Herman Miller’s global retail business across the company and its portfolio of brands, including Herman Miller, Design Within Reach and HAY. She most recently served as chief brand officer at Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (No. 68), as well as president of its designer and vintage home furnishings brand One Kings Lane. Prior to that, she was merchandise manager at apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (No. 72).
- Albertsons Inc. (No. 204) named Chris Rupp as executive vice president and chief customer and digital officer. He previously served as general manager of Microsoft Corp.’s (No. 117) Xbox Business Engineering team. She also spent nearly 11 years at Amazon.com Inc. (No. 1) in a variety of positions, such as vice president of Amazon Prime. At Albertsons, Rupp will be charged with integrating and enhancing consumers’ experiences across all digital touchpoints, accelerating its ecommerce business and managing the loyalty programs. “She is joining Albertsons Cos. at a time when we are innovating our digital capabilities to make customers’ shopping experiences easy and exciting,” said Vivek Sankaran, president and CEO, in a statement announcing the appointment. “We know our most loyal customers are shopping with us across all of our channels, and we win when we build lasting relationships with them.”
- Korean beauty brand Memebox has rebranded itself as MBX, as well as named a new executive team. Allison Slater is MBX’s new president, coming from skin care retailer IT Cosmetics, where she served as senior vice president of global marketing and communications. She also spent nearly 12 years at cosmetics retailer Sephora (owned by LVMH, No. 20) as its vice president of marketing. Additionally, MBX has appointed Hari Seshadri—formerly vice president of finance and operations at T-shirt retailer Teespring Inc. (No. 198)—as its new chief financial officer; Marshall Chang—formerly director of operations at feminine care retailer This is L. Inc.—as vice president of supply chain management; and Shawn Park—formerly associate creative director at Sephora—as creative director.
“MBX today is the evolution of our company’s approach to personalization through data into the development of unique brands that target niche groups,” says founder & CEO Hyungseok Dino Ha. “We will continue to incubate K-Beauty trends and drive innovation within our portfolio, but the big opportunity is to continue growth with retail partners–building unique brands that serve niche consumer bases.”
Bloomberg contributed to this article.
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