RALPH LAUREN TAPS AMAZON AND COACH ALUMS FOR NEW EXECUTIVE POSITIONS

by Stephen Garner

Ralph Lauren Purple LabelRalph Lauren Corporation has announced three senior executive appointments to further strengthen its leadership team as part of its Way Forward Plan. All three new hires will report directly to Stefan Larsson, president and chief executive officer.

Jane Nielsen has been named chief financial officer, effective September 6. Nielsen has a track record for delivering strong financial results at multi-channel consumer businesses, most recently at Coach, Inc., where she was instrumental in its global business transformation as executive vice president and chief financial officer. In an expanded CFO role at Ralph Lauren, in addition to all finance functions, she will oversee store operations, procurement, IT, and investor relations. Robert L. Madore, the company’s current CFO, will remain with Ralph Lauren through September 30 to facilitate a seamless transition.

Bill Campbell has been named corporate senior vice president of global supply chain and inventory management. He has been at Amazon, Inc. for the past 11 years in key distribution and logistics leadership roles and has world-class expertise in managing inventory, improving supply chain performance and reducing delivery times for customers. He will start at Ralph Lauren by October 1.

Jeffrey Kuster has been named group president for the Americas, effective July 11. Kuster has deep experience building brands and driving high-quality sales in leadership roles at HSN, Inc., Fruit of the Loom, Inc. and VF Corporation. He will oversee all commercial activities for the Americas region, including wholesale, retail, e-commerce, factory, travel retail and Latin America.

“We are thrilled to have attracted these three high-performance leaders – all of whom have best-in-class knowledge that is directly aligned to our Way Forward Plan,” said Larsson. “With Jane’s key role as a change agent at Coach, Bill’s supply chain experience at Amazon, and Jeff’s track record of building high-quality omnichannel sales for leading consumer brands, we will be even better positioned to strengthen our underlying business engines and drive profitable sales and shareholder returns.”