Change at the Top for Brookstone

Gifts and gadgets cataloger/retailer Brookstone announced today that its president/CEO Louis Mancini will be stepping down from his position and from the company's board of directors on March 4. Mancini, the former CEO of Murray's Discount Auto Stores, had joined Brookstone in 2006.

Philip W. Roizin will serve as interim president/CEO and as a director of the Merrimack, NH-based company. He has been Brookstone's executive vice president, finance and administration since December 1996.

Jackson Tai has been appointed as chairman of the company's board of directors, succeeding Ron Sim who will remain as a director. Tai, who has been a director of the company since August 2008, was vice chairman/CEO of DBS Group Holdings until 2008.

Sim, who served as Brookstone chairman since the 2005 acquisition of the merchant by OSIM International, JW Childs Associates, and Temasek Holdings, said he would devote himself to the challenges and opportunities in Asia. He is founder/chairman/ CEO of OSIM International, a Singapore-based retailer of health and fitness products.

Brookstone said last week that for fiscal year ended Jan. 3, its total net sales were $496.7 million, an 11.7% decrease from the period ended Dec. 29, 2007. The merchant reported a loss from operations of $129.4 million for the year, compared to income from operations of $39.9 million for the period in 2007.