Simpson Associates

Starting a Business

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:09:49 +0000

Simpson started her business ten years ago with $500 and three credit cards, working from her dining room table in a small one-room apartment. Since then, she’s placed 150 people, only three of whom didn’t work out.

She recently moved into an office in Trump Parc on Central Park South in New York. Her placements start at the middle management level, with salaries beginning at $60,000 up to Presidents. She finds Executives for such areas as Finance, Merchandising, Operations, Personnel, Distribution, and MIS.

Simpson on Recruiting

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:08:41 +0000

Terre Simpson, president of Simpson Associates, an executive search firm: “In the Past year, The Limited has instituted college recruiting. It reflects a concern in the retailing community that talent has to be nurtured and grown. Retailing has never been a preferred industry for talents from major schools.” “There is talent in the industry, but it has to be handled creatively.”

The Experts Rate

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:07:06 +0000

New York-Starbucks is spurring a coffee culture coast to coast. Baby boomers, worried about saving for kids’ college and their own retirement, are investing in mutual funds. The Internet is taking off. This 1996 Year-End Retail Roundup includes retail observers from coast to coast, ranging from academicians to Wall Street analysts, who identify these trends and other issues as the year’s most important. Here is what the retail experts had to say: Terre Simpson; Simpson Associates, retail executive search firm, New York HOT ISSUES Internet exposure and its profit potential, both catalogs and stores Brand identity (stores want to become a brand such as Williams-Sonoma, Spiegel, Bloomingdale’s, Brooks Brothers, Victoria’s Secret) IPOs (Linens’n Things, Donna Karan) Acquisitions and mergers (Younkers, Parisian, Office Max, J.C. Penney) Talent-Arthur Martinez totally re-engineering Sears

Jeans Licensing Deal, New CEO slowly patch Karan

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:06:00 +0000

It’s official. Last week, Donna Karan International Inc. signed its 15-year jeanswear pact with Liz Claiborne Inc. But analysts say they don’t expect the stock, now trading at about $12 a share, to move much. Messrs. Leeds and Loeb, while neutral now, are recommending the long-term value of the stock, largely because of Mr. Idol’s savvy. The veteran apparel executive, who was previously at Ralph Lauren, has a number of sound licensing pacts in the works, including a partner to produce Karan’s menswear and home furnishings. “His main strength is licenses,” says Terre Simpson of the Manhattan executive recruiting firm Simpson Associates. “That’s going to contribute directly to Karan’s bottom-line growth.”

QVC to Give Private-Label Footwear More Air Time

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:02:54 +0000

Rob Goldfarb, placed at QVC through Simpson Associates in New York, came to the network after working at J. Crew and Bloomingdale’s. He said footwear sales had been going well, primarily in comfort, but he saw opportunities for growth.

Are Men's Fashion Directors Going Out of Fashion?

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:01:57 +0000

According to Terre Simpson, president of the executive recruitment firm of Simpson Associates, men’s fashion directors are “a dying breed.” Although many stores still have women’s fashion directors, their men’s wear counterpart are fewer and further between. “Men’s is not a business that is as trend-oriented,” Simpson said, “so it’s not as essential to have a men’s fashion director.” But the biggest issue for retailers is cost. “Many times it’s very difficult to justify the bottom-line contribution of a fashion person so the stores just expect the merchants to interpret the trends,” Simpson said. “It’s more important for them to have fatter gross margins.”

Victoria Secret Suing May Department Stores

admin — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:00:02 +0000

May refused the request of Mark Weikel, former chairman of Foley’s, for permission to accept a job offer at Victoria’s Secret, citing a noncompete clause in Weikel’s contract. Foley’s officials escorted Weikel from the division’s Houston offices June 9, shortly after Weikel told Drew Pickman, Foley’s chief executive, about the offer, according to the lawsuit, which was filed the same day in St. Louis County Circuit Court. Victoria’s Secret and Weikel ask in the lawsuit for Weikel to be allowed to accept the position and for unspecified damages.

May announced in a press release June 10 that Andrew Hall, Foley’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, is replacing Weikel. Sharon Bateman, a spokeswoman for May, declined to comment.

Victoria’s Secret is seeking a court date on or before Aug. 10 to allow Weikel to start work at the company quickly, said William Corrigan, a partner with Armstrong Teasdale LLP and the lead attorney representing Victoria’s Secret. Weikel’s attorney, John Gianoulakis, partner at Kohn, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum LLP, said Victoria’s Secret and Weikel “merely exercised their legal right” to have the court declare the two companies are not competitors. Weikel could not be reached for comment.

Weikel cannot move to a competitor within two years of employment at May, according to his employment contract included as an exhibit in the lawsuit. Corrigan said, however, that Victoria’s Secret is not a competitor to May. Victoria’s Secret, owned by Limited Brands, is a retailer of private-brand lingerie, as compared to May, a full-line department store company that sells everything from china and furniture to jewelry, the suit said. A spokesman for Weikel Limited Brands did not return phone calls.

The position offered to Weikel at Victoria’s Secret is not named in the lawsuit, but an industry source said it was a high-level position with Victoria’s Secret stores. Weikel was making $500,000 annually at May; a standard increase for a move in the industry is 10 percent to 20 percent over the executive’s current salary, said Terre Simpson, president of New York-based Simpson Associates, a retail executive search firm. That would put Weikel’s new salary in the $550,000 to $600,000 range.

Salaries for the top five executives at Limited Brands, a Columbus, Ohio-based fashion retailer that also operates the Limited, Express and Bath & Body Works, ranged between $523,558 and $1.5 million in 2002, according to the company’s proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Weikel signed a three-year contract with May in 2000 for a $425,000 salary. The contract was extended by two years, and Weikel’s salary was raised in 2002. In addition to his salary, Weikel received a special bonus of $50,000, which Weikel would “earn out” by April 30. If Weikel’s employment with May ended prior to that date, he would have to repay that money. Weikel also was to receive 12,000 shares of restricted stock in May by 2006.

Limited Brands reported that same-store sales for the year ended Feb. 1 increased 3 percent, to $8.4 billion. Same-store sales for Victoria’s Secret rose 6 percent for the year. May’s same-store sales were down 2.8 percent for the year, to $13.5 billion. Sales for Foley’s, which operates 67 stores, declined from $2.1 billion in 2001 to about $2 billion in 2002.

In addition to Corrigan, Victoria’s Secret is being represented by Michael Kass at Armstrong Teasdale, and Weikel¹s attorneys include John Klobasa and David Castleman at Kohn, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum.

The Poaching Game

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:59:28 +0000

Observers praise retail-training programs for producing the most well-rounded senior executives. Terre Simpson, president of Simpson Associates, an executive search firm here, pointed out that retailers who have joined companies such as Liz Claiborne, which she called “the best-run firm in the fashion industry,” have met with a lot of success. “There’s much more money to be made in manufacturing than their counterpart in retailing,” said Simpson. “But in terms of expectations and how it’s run, the training programs and the standards, they’re not at the same level. What attracts retailers to manufacturing is that the environment is more free wheeling and the financial potential is usually greater.” One of the biggest problems facing the apparel industry is that it isn’t attracting a lot of talent, particularly from college graduates and business schools.

Holman-Rao: Limited

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:48:09 +0000

However, Terre Simpson, president of Simpson Associates executive search consultants said, “Holman-Rao combines a very good taste level and the ability to manage people well. That’s just what The Limited needs. Someone with the ability to put together a cohesive team.”

Is there a Dearth of Young Retail Talent?

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:46:48 +0000

Terre Simpson, president of Simpson Associates, an executive search firm: “In the past year, The Limited has instituted college recruiting. It reflects a concern in the retailing community that talent has to be nurtured and grown. Retailing has never been a preferred industry for talents from major schools.” “There is talent in the industry, but it has to be handled creatively. “Mike Searles is heading Casual Corner now. He was at Kids “R” Us. That’s a very creative move, and hopefully he has the administrative skills to transfer. Retailers could definitely pull more talent from other industries, especially in areas of finance, systems, even in advertising and promotion.”