Following the completion of its succession planning process, the Board
approved the appointment of Christian A. Brickman as the Company’s new
President and Chief Operating Officer effective June 2, 2014. At the
request of the Board, Gary Winterhalter, the Company’s current Chairman,
Chief Executive Officer and President will continue his management of
the Company in his current roles as the Company’s Chairman of the Board
and Chief Executive Officer through April 30, 2015 or such earlier date
as the Board may determine, and will work with the Board and Mr.
Brickman to facilitate a transition of his duties and responsibilities
as Chief Executive Officer to Mr. Brickman during this period. Upon the
successful transition of the role of Chief Executive Officer, Mr.
Winterhalter has agreed to continue serving at the discretion of the
Board as Executive Chairman of the Board through January 2018 performing
such duties as are customary for that position and as are requested by
the Chief Executive Officer or the Board. Mr. Brickman will continue to
serve as a member of the Board.
Chris Brickman, age 49, has been a member of the Company’s Board of
Directors since September 2012. He most recently served as President of
Kimberly-Clark International, which is the primary international
division of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, a role he held from May 2012 to
February 2014. In this capacity, Mr. Brickman led Kimberly-Clark’s
international consumer business in all operations outside of North
America. Prior to being appointed to this role, Mr. Brickman served as
President of Kimberly-Clark Professional from August 2010 to May 2012.
Mr. Brickman joined Kimberly-Clark in 2008 as Chief Strategy Officer and
played a key role in the development and implementation of the company's
strategic plans and processes to enhance Kimberly-Clark's enterprise
growth initiatives. Prior to joining Kimberly-Clark, Mr. Brickman was a
Principal in McKinsey & Company's Dallas, Texas, office and a leader in
the firm's consumer packaged goods and operations practices. Before
joining McKinsey, Mr. Brickman was President and CEO of Whitlock
Packaging (1998-2001), the largest non-carbonated beverage co-packing
company in the United States.
“The Board, working with Gary, has given careful thought to succession
planning and is confident that Chris is a great fit for Sally Beauty
Holdings, Inc.,” said Robert McMaster, the Company’s Lead Independent
Director. “Gary has done a superb job building this Company and we are
pleased that he will continue to play a significant role with SBH,
initially as CEO and later as Executive Chairman. We believe Chris’
knowledge of Sally as a board member and his proven record of driving
international growth and success in leading profitability initiatives
represent a great combination of capabilities from which to lead the
Company into its next phase.”
"I am proud of the accomplishments we have made during my 27 years at
Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. and remain confident that the Company is
well-positioned for growth both domestically and internationally,” said
Gary Winterhalter, the Company’s Chairman, President & Chief Executive
Officer. “Chris brings significant and broad leadership experience to
the Company, and I am certain that his unique blend of management,
international and strategic expertise will help us deliver on our future
growth goals."
“I greatly admire what Gary Winterhalter and the Sally Beauty Holdings,
Inc. team have achieved. I am honored that Gary and the Board have
entrusted me with this role and to be joining such an incredibly
accomplished group of professionals,” said Chris Brickman. “More
importantly, SBH has tremendous global opportunities ahead and I look
forward to working closely with the executive management team and with
all of the Company’s employees and suppliers to build on the solid
growth strategy in place and further enhance opportunities for
employees, the quality and value delivered to customers, and, as a
result, the returns achieved for stockholders.”
About Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.
Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SBH) is an international specialty
retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies with revenues
of $3.6 billion annually. Through the Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty
Systems Group businesses, the Company sells and distributes through
4,700 stores, including approximately 200 franchised units, throughout
the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Chile, Peru, France, the
Netherlands, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ireland, Spain and Germany.
Sally Beauty Supply stores offers up to 10,000 products for hair, skin,
and nails through professional lines such as Clairol, L’Oreal, Wella and
Conair, as well as an extensive selection of proprietary merchandise.
Beauty Systems Group stores, branded as CosmoProf or Armstrong McCall
stores, along with its outside sales consultants, sell up to 10,000
professionally branded products including Paul Mitchell, Wella,
Sebastian, Goldwell, Joico, and Aquage which are targeted exclusively
for professional and salon use and resale to their customers. For more
information about Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc., please visit
sallybeautyholdings.com.
Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this news release and the schedules hereto which are not
purely historical facts or which depend upon future events may be
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,”
“estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “target,” “can,”
“could,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” or similar expressions may
also identify such forward-looking statements.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements as such statements speak only as of the date they were made.
Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the
events or results described in the forward-looking statements,
including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: the
highly competitive nature of, and the increasing consolidation of, the
beauty products distribution industry; anticipating changes in consumer
preferences and buying trends and managing our product lines and
inventory; potential fluctuation in our same store sales and quarterly
financial performance; our dependence upon manufacturers who may be
unwilling or unable to continue to supply products to us; the
possibility of material interruptions in the supply of beauty supply
products by our manufacturers or third-party distributors; products sold
by us being found to be defective in labeling or content; compliance
with laws and regulations or becoming subject to additional or more
stringent laws and regulations; product diversion; the operational and
financial performance of our franchise-based business; the success of
our e-commerce business; successfully identifying acquisition candidates
and successfully completing desirable acquisitions; integrating acquired
businesses; opening and operating new stores profitably; the impact of
the health of the economy upon our business; the success of our cost
control plans; protecting our intellectual property rights, particularly
our trademarks; the risk that our products may infringe on the
intellectual property of others; conducting business outside the United
States; disruption in our information technology systems; a significant
data security breach, including misappropriation of our customers’ or
employees’ personal information, and the potential costs related
thereto; the negative impact on our reputation and loss of confidence of
our customers, suppliers and others arising from a significant data
security breach; the costs and diversion of management attention
required to investigate and remediate a data security breach; the
ultimate determination of the extent or scope of the potential
liabilities relating to our recent data security incident; severe
weather, natural disasters or acts of violence or terrorism; the
preparedness of our accounting and other management systems to meet
financial reporting and other requirements and the upgrade of our
financial reporting system; being a holding company, with no operations
of our own, and depending on our subsidiaries for cash; our substantial
indebtedness; the possibility that we may incur substantial additional
debt, including secured debt, in the future; restrictions and
limitations in the agreements and instruments governing our debt;
generating the significant amount of cash needed to service all of our
debt and refinancing all or a portion of our indebtedness or obtaining
additional financing; changes in interest rates increasing the cost of
servicing our debt; the potential impact on us if the financial
institutions we deal with become impaired; and the costs and effects of
litigation.
Additional factors that could cause actual events or results to differ
materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking
statements can be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended September 30, 2013. Consequently, all forward-looking
statements in this release are qualified by the factors, risks and
uncertainties contained therein. We assume no obligation to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statements.
Copyright Business Wire 2014