Saks Global Forms Senior Team, Blending Talent From Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue
Following the $2.7 billion acquisition of the Neiman Marcus Group by Saks Global just three weeks ago, a single senior-level team to manage the commercial areas of both retail banners has been established, WWD has learned.
The new centralized Saks Global organization blends talent from both Saks and Neiman Marcus and reports directly to Emily Essner, Saks Global’s president and chief commercial officer which involves overseeing merchandising, marketing, customer analytics and e-commerce. She reports to Marc Metrick, chief executive officer of the Saks Global Operating Group. Essner previously served as chief marketing officer of Saks.
While Metrick’s and Essner’s positions in the new Saks Global were previously reported, the company on Friday disclosed to WWD five key appointments reporting directly to Essner. They are:
- Cheryl Han, chief digital officer, overseeing the digital strategy to build “differentiated customer experiences and driving sustainable growth across owned and external digital channels,” the company indicated. Han was chief digital officer and senior vice president of customer strategy at the Neiman Marcus Group and earlier held digital responsibilities at Bergdorf Goodman.
- Kristin Maa, chief marketing officer, formerly senior vice president of growth at Saks, where she oversaw performance marketing across paid channels, retention marketing, including email and personalization, and online category growth.
- Paolo Riva in the newly created role of chief brand partnerships and buying officer, “to oversee the buying team, curate differentiated luxury fashion assortments and maximize Saks Global’s buying power and brand partner relationships,” the company said. Riva was general manager of brand partnerships and merchandising at NMG.
- Stephanie Salierno, senior vice president of merchandise, overseeing merchandise planning “with an integrated customer-centric approach, leveraging data and analytics to inform merchandise financial planning, inventory management and demand forecasting, and drive business performance.” Salierno was senior vice president of merchandise planning at Saks.
- Nivy Swaminathan, senior vice president of commercial analytics and customer insights, “to transform customer data into actionable insights.” She was vice president of advanced analytics and personalization at Saks.
While Saks’ and Neiman’s managements are being consolidated into one team, Bergdorf Goodman continues to be operated by a separate team. As previously reported, Tracy Margolies is now serving as president of Bergdorf’s. She was chief merchandising officer at Saks.
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Ian Putnam will serve as CEO of Saks Global Properties & Investments. Both Metrick and Putnam will report to Richard Baker, executive chairman of Saks Global.
“As we set out to transform the luxury shopping experience, we’ve created a commercial team at Saks Global, which is a first-of-its-kind in multibrand luxury retail,” Essner said in a statement to WWD. “By aligning key commercial functions to execute our integrated go-to-market strategy, we are breaking the mold for how we bring luxury shopping to life, delivering personalized experiences artfully curated for each customer.”
The agreement by Saks to buy the Neiman Marcus Group creates a luxury retail empire in the U.S. that includes Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5th, representing a total of about $10 billion in annual sales. Baker managed to pull off the $2.7 billion acquisition with the support of Amazon, Salesforce, G-III Apparel Group and Authentic Brands Group and $2.2 billion in high-yield bonds.
“We are going to do things very differently,” Metrick told WWD when the merger was finalized. “You will not see some of the same traditional roles, like chief merchant. Saks Global plans to break the mold in how we go to market and how its business runs.”
Nivy Swaminathan
