Just five days after Lands’ End president/CEO David Dyer announced he was leaving the Dodgeville, WI-based apparel cataloger, clothing manufacturer Tommy Hilfiger Corp. reported that it has named Dyer its new president/CEO.
Going forward, Lands’ End will be run by a committee consisting of three existing Lands’ End executives: executive vice president of merchandising and design Mindy Meads, executive vice president/chief creative and administrative officer Lee Eisenberg, and chief operating officer Dennis Honan.
“He was instrumental in developing the Lands’ End/Sears partnership that has benefited both companies,” says Sears spokesperson Chris Brathwaite about Dyer. “He instituted the corporate culture and Lands’ End that’s now becoming so much a part of Sears too.”
Part of that team-style culture was the leadership by committee structure that will succeed Dyer’s tenure. “Even before this, Lands’ End had been run by a team for the most part with Dave, Lee, and Mindy all involved to some extent,” Brathwaite says. “This is a continuation of that in a more formal structure.” The leadership team will jointly report to Sears president/CEO Alan Lacy.
Dyer rose to vice chairman, merchandising and sales in an earlier stint with at Lands’ End from 1989-94. He left the cataloger to become president/chief operating officer of Home Shopping Network and later a retail consultant to apparel cataloger J. Crew Group before he was brought back by founder Gary Comer in 1998 to bail the company out of a financial hole. He did just that, overseeing bottom line growth from net income of $31.2 million in fiscal year 1999 ended January ’99 to $66.9 million in fiscal year 2002 ended January ’02.
Tommy Hilfiger, which in June posted a quarterly loss and forecast lower revenue in the current year based on challenging business conditions through the 2003 holiday season, is evidently looking to tap Dyer’s turnaround expertise.
Dyer, 54, replaces Joel Horowitz, whose contract was to expire in March. Horowitz, who had been CEO since 1994, will remain at the company as chairman.