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Bebe Announces New Board Members
Last month Bebe Stores Inc. named Jim Wiggett as its interim chief executive officer. Now the beleaguered contemporary retailer has revamped its board of directors.
Cynthia Cohen, Barbara Bass and Caden Wang left the company’s board effective immediately, Bebe Stores reported in a July 9 statement.
Their replacements are men with deep roots in mall retail. Coming on board is Seth Johnson, who served as Pacific Sunwear Inc.’s chief executivefrom 2004 to 2006. He currently serves on the boards of True Religion Inc. and Tillys Inc.
Brett Brewer also was appointed to the board. He currently serves on PacSun’s board of directors and is the co-founder of CrossCut Ventures, a venture capital firm. He has worked for more than 15 years as an Internet entrepreneur.
The third new director is Blair Lambert, who was chief operating officer and chief financial officer of The Gymboree Corp. Currently, he is the owner of Napa, Calif.–based Lambert Family Vineyard.
Manny Mashouf, Bebe’s founder and chairman of the board, said the new directors would provide valuable advice. “They add a wealth of retail experience and strategic business knowledge to the board, and we look forward to their contributions. Overall, driving shareholder value is a priority for our company, and we believe that the appointment of Jim Wiggett as interim CEO and our new board members will help us to achieve this objective,” he said.
Bebe has been struggling with its sales. For its third quarter of fiscal 2014, same-store sales decreased 5.7 percent. Net sales declined 17.2 percent to $93.5 million, compared with $112.9 million during the same time period last year. Bebe currently runs a fleet of 224 stores across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
