MANUFACTURING
Gap Brand President Steps Down
Jeff Kirwan, the president and chief executive officer of Gap Inc.’s namesake Gap brand, will leave the company, it was announced on Feb. 20.
Art Peck, Gap Inc.’s chief executive officer, said that the Gap brand achieved a number of improvements since December 2014, when Kirwan started his job as the Gap brand’s leader.
“While I am pleased with our progress in brand health and product quality, we have not achieved the operational excellence and accelerated profit growth that we know is possible at Gap brand. As we move into the brand’s next phase of development, Jeff and I agreed it was an appropriate time for a change in leadership,” Peck said.
The San Francisco company has started a search for his replacement. Serving as the acting Gap brand president and chief executive officer will be Brent Hyder. He is Gap’s executive vice president, global talent and sustainability. He previously served as chief operating officer.
Kirwan’s departure was announced a day before the brand introduced Gap | Sarah Jessica Parker, a limited-edition childrenswear collection with Sarah Jessica Parker, an actress who appears in the current HBO series “Divorce” and was in the 1990s TV series “Sex and the City.”
Gap Inc. is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings for 2017 on March 1.
