Three high-level Vans executives, including its former vice president and general manager of the Americas, have left the company, SES has learned.
Vice President and General Manager of Vans Americas David Tichiaz, Global Chief Marketing Officer Kristin Harrer, and Vans Americas Vice President of Finance Michael LeFebvre are no longer with Vans.
“While we don’t have additional details to share at this time, I can confirm that those individuals have since left Vans,” a spokesperson for the company told SES Friday.
Former Vans Chief Marketing Officer Kristin Harrer – File photo courtesy of Vans
Tichiaz was a well-liked veteran at the company, having worked at Vans for nearly 17 years. He got his start as a regional account manager in 2006 and has held several positions since then across sales, merchandising, and wholesale, and was considered a rising star for years. He was named Americas general manager in 2020 to lead the wholesale, direct-to-consumer, merchandising, and marketing teams.
LeFebvre had been with the company since 2017 in various finance positions after coming to Vans from Hurley, where he was director of finance between 2010 and 2017.
Harrer had joined Vans about two years ago as its first chief marketing officer, coming to the company from Dollar Shave Club.
The executive departures come as VF Corp. looks to get the Vans business back on track, with its most recent performance in the Americas region dragging down the brand’s overall results in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31. Vans Americas sales in the quarter fell 13%, leading VF interim President and CEO Benno Dorer to say when the quarterly results were announced, “We must do better with Vans in its home market, and we will.”
VF projects Vans revenue for the full fiscal year to be down in the high-single digits in constant currency.
Editor’s Note: Vans parent VF Corp. has also made recent changes at some of its other brands, including Dickies. For details, click here. And, for the latest on David Tichiaz, click here.
