Independent Board Member Sue Gove Appointed
Interim CEO Company
Appoints New Chief Merchandising
Officer
Adjusting Strategy and Focusing Resources to Improve Company
Performance
UNION,
N.J., June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bed Bath
& Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) today announced significant
changes to the Company's senior leadership to focus on reversing
recent results, addressing supply chain and inventory, and
strengthening its balance sheet. Sue Gove, an Independent
Director on the Company's Board of Directors and Chair of the
Board's Strategy Committee, has been named Interim Chief Executive
Officer, replacing Mark Tritton, who
has left his role as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a
member of the Board.
Harriet Edelman, Independent
Chair of the Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. Board of Directors, said:
"After thorough consideration, the Board determined that it was
time for a change in leadership. Our banner's heritage is built on
the premise that when customers are shopping for the home, Bed Bath
& Beyond is the perfect
destination for unique solutions
and inspiration. We must deliver
that proposition for customers, drive growth, and unlock
the value of the banners. Today's actions address company
performance, the macroeconomic conditions under which we are
operating, and the expectations of the Board on behalf of
shareholders. We are committed to addressing the urgent issues that
have been impacting sales, profitability, and cash flow generation.
We are confident Sue brings the right combination of industry
experience and knowledge of Bed Bath & Beyond's operations to
lead the Company, focus our resources, and revise strategy, as
appropriate."
Ms. Gove said, "We must deliver improved results. Our
shareholders, Associates, customers, and partners all expect more.
We are committed to providing customers with a one-stop destination
to meet their needs through our assortment, experience, and
services, whether online or in stores. Top-tier execution, careful
management of costs, greater supply chain reliability, prudent
capital spending, a stronger balance sheet, and robust digital
capabilities will all be important to our success. I'm eager to
start working more closely with our leaders and our Associates
across all banners to make the necessary strategy adjustments and
create a brighter future for Bed Bath & Beyond Inc."
Executive Changes
The Company further announced
that it has named Mara Sirhal as
Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer. Ms.
Sirhal, who most recently served as Bed Bath & Beyond's Senior
Vice President and General Manager for Harmon,
as well as General Merchandise Manager of Health, Beauty &
Consumables,
will be responsible for driving the Company's omnichannel
merchandising, planning, and Owned Brands strategies, while also
retaining her position as General Manager for the Harmon retail
banner. Ms. Sirhal will report directly to Ms. Gove. She replaces
Joe Hartsig, who is leaving the
company.
Ms. Edelman continued, "We appreciate Mark's contributions over
the past two and a half years. These include launching our
transformation strategy, delivering returns to shareholders through
the divestiture of non-core assets, investing in technology,
infrastructure and digital capabilities and introducing Owned
Brands. Under his leadership, the Company navigated well through
the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping our Associates, customers, and
communities safe and served. Joe was also a key member of our
senior leadership team and instrumental in developing and
implementing our product strategy. The Board of Directors
recognizes and thanks both Mark and Joe for their leadership and
wish them all the best for the future."
These changes reflect the decision of the
Company's thirteen independent members of the Board of
Directors.
To support its work, the Board has retained Berkeley Research
Group (BRG), a leading retail advisory firm, to focus on cash,
inventory and balance sheet optimization. In addition, Russell Reynolds, a nationally recognized search
firm, has been retained to commence a search process for the
permanent Chief Executive Officer role.
Strategy Committee Update
As previously
announced, the Strategy Committee of the Board has been evaluating
options for buybuy BABY over the past several months. The Committee
is working closely with management and strategic and financial
advisors to properly assess inherent value potential. While the
Committee's work continues, the analysis to-date has confirmed the
potential of buybuy BABY and has identified several strategies to
further increase the
synergies and compelling growth potential to be unlocked
within Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. The
Committee will continue its work and provide support while the
Company focuses on near-term actions that primarily involve
improved execution. These include focus on key offerings,
recapturing the power of its registry program and an improved
digital platform.
In line with the executive transition, the
Strategy Committee will be reconfigured as Sue Gove steps down from her role as Chair.
Effective immediately, current Committee member Andrea Weiss has assumed the role of Chair and
Joshua Schechter, Chair of the Audit
Committee, will join the Strategy Committee.
First Quarter 2022 Financial Results
In
a separate release today, the Company is disclosing its financial
results for the quarter ended May 28,
2022. The Company will host a conference call with investors
and analysts today at 8:15am EDT to
review this announcement and the Company's financial results.
About Sue Gove
Ms. Gove has been an
Independent Director of Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. since
May 2019. Throughout her tenure, Sue
served two years as a member of the Audit Committee and three years
as a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance committee.
In March, she was named Chair of the Board's Strategy Committee.
Sue has spent more than 30 years within the retail industry serving
a variety of senior financial, operating and strategic roles that
included President and Chief Executive Officer of Golfsmith
International Holdings and Chief Operating Officer of
Zale Corporation. She has also served as
a Senior Advisor for Alvarez & Marsal, a global professional
services firm, from March 2017 to
March 2019, where she primarily
focused on advisory and turnaround for retail companies. She is the
President of Excelsior Advisors, LLC, a retail consulting and
advisory firm founded in August
2014.
About Mara Sirhal
Ms. Sirhal has 20 years of
experience in retail, merchandising, store operations, beauty, and
wellness. Prior to Bed Bath & Beyond and Harmon, she worked at
Macy's Inc., most recently as Vice President and Divisional
Business Manager for Licensed, Retail as a Service and Retail
Diversity Strategy, and previously held a number of strategic
merchandising roles at the retailer,
including Vice President and Divisional Business
Manager for Fragrances, Bath and Body Merchandising
in the Beauty division. In this role she was responsible for
buying, planning, digital and inventory management, and delivered
significant growth in comp sales and market share. Prior to her
current role as EVP and CMO, Ms. Sirhal was Senior Vice President
and General Manager of Harmon Health and Beauty Stores, as well as
General Merchandise Manager of Health, Beauty & Consumables,
where she was responsible for leading all operational aspects of
this value-driven business.
About Bed Bath & Beyond
Inc
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. and subsidiaries (the "Company") is an omnichannel retailer that makes it easy
for our customers to feel at home. The Company sells a wide
assortment of merchandise in the Home, Baby, Beauty and Wellness
markets. Additionally, the Company is a partner in a joint venture
which operates retail stores in Mexico under the name Bed Bath &
Beyond.
The Company operates websites at
bedbathandbeyond.com, bedbathandbeyond.ca, buybuybaby.com, buybuybaby.ca, facevalues.com and
decorist.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 21 E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
including, but not limited to, our progress and anticipated
progress towards our long-term objectives, potential changes in our
strategy and management changes, as well as more generally our
future outlook. Many of these forward-looking statements can be
identified by use of words such as may, will, expect, anticipate,
approximate, estimate, assume, continue, model, project, plan,
goal, preliminary, and similar words and phrases, although the
absence of those words does not necessarily mean that statements
are not forward-looking. Our actual results and future financial
condition may differ materially from those expressed in any such
forward-looking statements as a result of many factors. Such
factors include, without limitation: general economic conditions
including the recent supply chain disruptions, labor shortages,
wage pressures, rising inflation; a challenging overall
macroeconomic environment and a highly competitive retailing
environment; the ongoing military conflict between Russia and Ukraine; risks associated with the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic and the governmental responses to it, including
its impacts across our businesses on demand and operations, as well
as on the operations of our suppliers and other business partners,
and the effectiveness of our and governmental actions taken in
response to these risks; changing consumer preferences, spending
habits and demographics; demographics and other macroeconomic
factors that may impact the level of spending for the types of
merchandise sold by us; challenges in executing our omni-channel
and transformation strategy, including our ability to establish and
profitably maintain the appropriate mix of digital and physical
presence in the markets we serve; our ability to successfully
execute our store fleet optimization strategies, including our
ability to achieve anticipated cost savings and to not exceed
anticipated costs; our ability to execute on any additional
strategic transactions and realize the benefits of any
acquisitions, partnerships, investments or divestitures;
disruptions to our information technology systems, including but
not limited to security breaches of systems protecting consumer and
employee information or other types of cybercrimes or cybersecurity
attacks; damage to our reputation in any aspect of our operations;
the cost of labor, merchandise, logistical costs and other costs
and expenses; potential supply chain disruption due to trade
restrictions or otherwise, and other factors such as natural
disasters, pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, political
instability, labor disturbances, product recalls, financial or
operational instability of suppliers or carriers, and other items;
inflation and the related increases in costs of materials, labor
and other costs; inefficient management of relationships and
dependencies on third-party service providers; our ability to
attract and retain qualified employees in all areas of the
organization; unusual weather patterns and natural disasters,
including the impact of climate change; uncertainty and disruptions
in financial markets; volatility in the price of our common stock
and its effect, and the effect of other factors, including the
COVID-19 pandemic, on our capital allocation strategy; changes to
statutory, regulatory and other legal requirements or deemed
noncompliance with such requirements; changes to accounting rules,
regulations and tax laws, or new interpretations of existing
accounting standards or tax laws; new, or developments in existing,
litigation, claims or assessments; and a failure of our business
partners to adhere to appropriate laws, regulations or standards.
Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to
update our forward-looking statements.
Contacts:
MEDIA: Julie
Strider, Media@bedbath.com
INVESTORS: Susie A. Kim, IR@bedbath.com
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SOURCE Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.