Nautica Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq: NAUT) today announced two management promotions.
Karen Poole, Vice President of Sales for Nautica Men's Jeans, has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Sales for Nautica International, Inc., the Company's men's sportswear business. Ms. Poole has had increasing responsibility in key sales roles since joining the Company 10 years ago. She will report to Christopher Heyn, President of Nautica International.
Replacing Ms. Poole will be Amy O'Bannon, who has been promoted to Vice President of Sales for Nautica Men's Jeans and Boys 8-20. Ms. O'Bannon joined Nautica 18 months ago from Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, where she was Regional Sales Manager for five years. Ms. O'Bannon will report to Paulette McCready, President of Nautica Jeans Company and Nautica Children's Company.
Both promotions are effective immediately.
Mr. Heyn said, ''Karen Poole has been a valuable asset to us since she joined Nautica 10 years ago. We are delighted that she will be focusing her efforts on our core men's sportswear business after successfully overseeing the sales growth of Nautica Men's Jeans over the past three years. Together, we will continue to seek ways to strengthen the overall management and direction of our core Nautica sportswear business.''
Commenting on the promotion of Ms. O'Bannon, Ms. McCready stated, ''Since she joined the Nautica team 18 months ago, Amy has been instrumental in growing the overall children's business which, from its inception, has been inspired by the design and merchandising direction of Nautica Men's Jeans. Amy's experience is thus a great fit for men's jeans.''
Harvey Sanders, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nautica Enterprises, Inc., said, ''I am very pleased to announce these two promotions, which reflect the depth of our management team and our commitment to promote from within the organization whenever possible. Karen and Amy have played important roles in building our men's jeans and childrenswear businesses, and we look forward to their contributions in their new roles. As we look ahead, Chris Heyn, our recently appointed President of men's sportswear, will be working with Vice Chairman David Chu, our design team, and Karen Poole to further strengthen and enhance the integrity of the Nautica sportswear brand. We are also excited with our new marketing campaign for both sportswear and jeans, which begins this fall.''