William L. McComb is solidifying his leadership team by making his first major appointments as chief executive officer at Liz Claiborne Inc.
McComb has recruited Tim Gunn to join the company as chief creative officer, a new post. And Michael Scarpa, Claiborne’s chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and distribution, has been promoted to chief operating officer.
Gunn’s appointment was first reported on WWD.com on Wednesday evening.
Gunn is stepping down as chair of the department of fashion design at Parsons The New School for Design, but will continue on as taskmaster for “Project Runway.”
“Working with designers at Liz Claiborne will be very similar to what I do with students at Parsons,” Gunn said. “I have tremendous respect for the brands and their individuality. I will ask them questions like I do with my students: Whom are they designing for? What does that customer need?”
And, McComb interjected: “What’s getting in the way of great design?”
McComb analogized the new post to a “creative dean” for the $4.85 billion firm, which has 47 brands, including Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand Jeans, Kate Spade and the Liz Claiborne brand.
The new ceo, who joined Claiborne from Johnson & Johnson in November, said the idea to recruit Gunn came from “my binder,” which is full of e-mail printouts from Claiborne employees with suggestions on how to improve the company.
“One of the things designers all talked about was wanting a spokesperson for them at the top of the organization,” McComb said. “Tim’s role is to help the design community. He is not joining us as the master editor or designer of our lines. The goal is to consistently produce irresistible product and to attract, retain and develop the best design teams.”
Scarpa, a Claiborne veteran for more than two decades, joined the company as budget manager in 1983 and has climbed the corporate ladder. Effective immediately, he will add manufacturing, sourcing and information systems to his current responsibilities over finance, distribution and logistics organizations.
“The environment in which we operate is dynamic and shows no signs of slowing down,” McComb said in a statement. “To compete effectively in such a climate, we felt strongly it was important to have one executive overseeing product movement from start to finish; someone who could take a holistic approach to the back end, yet understand the challenges of the front end. In Mike, we have found that person.”
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Scarpa will remain on as chief financial officer until Claiborne finds a replacement. He will continue to report to McComb.
Gunn, who starts March 5, also will report to McComb. His contract does not include a specified length of time, but McComb said it would be a “long-term deal.”
“I have a huge learning curve ahead of me,” Gunn admitted. “For me, having lived as an academic for 30 years, I am finally stepping into the real world.”
Claiborne declined to disclose Gunn’s compensation package, but Gunn reiterated, with a laugh: “I am moving from academia to the real world.”
McComb’s recruitment of the high-profile television personality marks the first public move under the industry outsider’s leadership. McComb has said not to expect his full leadership manifesto until the summer.
Gunn spent most of his 24-year career at Parsons as associate dean of the school, but in 2000 was appointed chair of the fashion design program, in charge of making over Parson’s curriculum for the 21st century. Gunn began on “Project Runway,” a role that made his face recognizable even outside the fashion world, in late 2004.
“Tim has become an unbelievable spokesperson for the industry,” said McComb, who previously was a group president at Johnson & Johnson. “We believe we will benefit from him having access with the outside world.”
McComb sees Gunn’s public connections as synergistic with his new role at Claiborne, and the company is encouraging him to keep his television commitments and his involvement at Parsons. The latter is still being negotiated, as Gunn said the school was less than pleased to see him leave, though he hopes to stay involved at Parsons — which is right across the street from Claiborne’s offices — with roles such as being a member of the thesis review committee, where he can draft graduating seniors to come work with him at his new employer.
On whether “Project Runway” will be featuring Claiborne brand challenges in its next season, McComb said: “We would never put Tim in that position by asking.”
McComb said he and Claiborne president Trudy Sullivan began discussing the idea of a corporate creative officer at the end of November, and when they brought Anne Cashill, Claiborne’s vice president of corporate merchandising and design, into the conversation, his name immediately surfaced. They contacted Gunn on Dec. 21, and the appointment was just cemented this week.
“We’ve always talked about the care and nurturing of our design community, and this is a quantum leap forward,” said Sullivan. “This answers the question about the buzz in developing talent in the industry. We want to be the place to develop talent in the industry.”