Wet Seal Appoints New Chairman of the Board
A few days after four members of The Wet Seal Inc.’s board of directors resigned, the Foothill Ranch, Calif.–based juniors retailer appointed Lynda J. Davey to the position of chairman of the board on Oct. 10.
In a prepared statement, Davey said that the new board will put Wet Seal on the road to improved sales and profitability.
“Wet Seal has a strong heritage in the juniors and young contemporary retail spaces,” she said. “I strongly believe that, collectively, we have the qualifications necessary to put Wet Seal on the path to recovery."
Davey has a strong background in finance. She served as chairman and chief executive officer of boutique investment group Avalon Group Ltd. Prior to Avalon Group, she was president of merchant bank Tribeca Corp. She also worked at Salomon Brothers Inc. Other new Wet Seal board members have extensive experience in retail. New board member Dorrit M. Bern served as chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president of Charming Shoppes Inc. from 1995 to 2008. Another new board member, Mindy C. Meads, held the position of Aeropostale Inc.’s president and co-chief executive officer from 2007 to 2010. New board member John S. Mills is president of SDE, a retail-consulting firm, specializing in store operations and growth strategies.
The other Wet Seal board members are Kathy Bronstein, who worked at the company from 1992 to 2005, when she ended her service as Wet Seal’s vice chair and president.John Goodman was the chief executive officer of Charlotte Russe from 2008 to 2009. Bronstein and Goodman were named to the board on Sept. 20.Kenneth Reiss is the sole holdover from the pre–Sept. 20 board. He worked as an auditor for Ernst & Young LLP.
Wet Seal runs a fleet of 554 stores across the United States. There are 473 stores under the Wet Seal nameplate and 81 stores under the nameplate for contemporary store Arden B.—Andrew Asch
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