(Toronto) The woman who made Indigo Books
The Toronto-based bookstore chain announced Monday that its founder, Heather Reisman, was returning as CEO.
She fills the void left by the sudden resignation of Peter Ruis from the top management post earlier this month.
“There is a clear path for Indigo to regain its momentum,” Ms. Reisman said in a statement Monday.
Ms. Reisman had served as chief executive until last year, when Mr. Ruis, a retail executive who worked at John Lewis, Anthropologie and Jigsaw, took over.
Ms. Reisman retired from Indigo’s board of directors last month. As part of her return to the company, she was also reappointed to the board of directors.
The return of an executive after leaving a company – a concept known as “boomerang CEO” – is rare, but in Indigo’s case it likely stems from the company’s need for a leader stable and experienced in a context of change, explained Richard Leblanc, professor of governance, law and ethics at York University.
“The founder comes back to stabilize things and there are many reasons for that, because the founders know where the bodies are buried,” he illustrated. They know exactly how to take care of it. »
Ms. Reisman was also likely chosen because it’s not easy to find a CEO so quickly, in “a very distressed industry,” where investors and the public already question executive turnover of the company.
“It almost seems like a game of musical chairs,” observed Mr. Leblanc. What investors want is a smooth transition, not a second resignation in about six months, he said. So now this creates a third round of eyebrow raising. »
In addition to Ms. Reisman’s return, Indigo announced that Chief Financial Officer Craig Loudon had been named Chief Operating Officer. He will also continue to serve as CFO and lead the finance team.
Prior to Ms. Reisman’s retirement as executive chair and director in August, four of Indigo’s ten directors left the board. Chika Stacy Oriuwa notably attributed her resignation to a “loss of confidence in the leadership of the board of directors” and “mistreatment”.
Indigo also announced on Monday the appointment of Markus Dohle, chair of the board’s Human Resources, Compensation and Governance Committee, as chair of the board, as well as the addition of Eileen Naughton as a director.
Ms. Naughton is a former human resources director at Google.
With these changes, Ms. Reisman will have a lot of work to do, and will be able to tackle it immediately, emphasized Mr. Leblanc.
“Ms. Reisman’s job is to stop the bleeding and get Indigo back into shape for its future,” he said.
“This could include job cuts, changes focused less on books and more on household goods, so I hope this reset is what is needed, and that everyone will work together. »
