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Zales Searching for New CEO.
Zale Corp. has narrowed its search for a new chief executive to two leading candidates from outside the jewelry retailer, though a final decision likely won't be made for several weeks.
Mary "Betsy" Burton, a Zale board member who assumed the interim CEO job upon Mary Forte's dismissal in January, said Thursday that the search remains open though Zale has identified "a couple of excellent candidates."
Burton added that a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of Zale's accounting announced last month hasn't deterred candidates in the search pool. Even so, an announcement isn't imminent.
"There is a concern that we're in the throes of finalizing holiday (strategies)," Burton said in an interview. "To put someone else in at such a critical juncture might actually be more disruptive."
Irving, Texas-based Zale, a retailer of diamonds and jewelry, collects most of its net in the Christmas quarter, its fiscal second. Zale ranks as the No. 2 specialty jewelry retailer in the United States by marketshare behind Sterling Jewelers Inc., the U.S. arm of London-based Signet Group PLC. In the United States, Sterling operates the Kay Jewelers and Jared the Galleria of Jewelry brands. Also in the U.S., Zale operates Zales Jewelers; Zales Outlet; Gordon's Jewelers; Bailey, Banks & Biddle; and Piercing Pagoda.
Forte, Zale's CEO since 2002, resigned in January after a strategy to shift flagship brand Zales Jewelers to a more fashionable, upscale clientele tarnished the retailer's holiday results. Following her out the door were Zales Jewelers President Paul Leonard in February and Chief Operating Officer Sue Gove in March. Zale issued the three nearly $13 million combined in severance pay
