Dennis Pence Assumes Duties as Coldwater Creek's President and Chief Executive Officer
14 September 2009 - 2:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
SANDPOINT, Idaho, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Coldwater
Creek Inc. (NASDAQ:CWTR) announced today that co-founder and
Chairman Dennis Pence has assumed the duties of President and Chief
Executive Officer, effective immediately, replacing Daniel
Griesemer. "Dennis is the architect of the Coldwater Creek brand
and, along with co-founder Ann Pence, the visionary behind the
unique customer experience integral to our company's success," said
Georgia Shonk Simmons, President and Chief Merchandising Officer.
"The Board believes there is no better person to ensure that
Coldwater Creek capitalizes on its opportunities and drives value
for our shareholders. Furthermore, we remain encouraged by the
improvement in the trends in our business as consumers continue to
respond favorably to our fall assortment." Dennis Pence, Chairman,
President and Chief Executive Officer stated: "It is my firm belief
that this brand, now 25 years of age, has significant opportunities
for substantial growth. The Board of Directors has asked me to
return as our leader in order to accelerate the timelines for this
growth, and for a return to long-term profitability, which our
shareholders so rightfully expect. I look forward to moving
expeditiously and will provide further detail as to our plans for
future growth in the months to come." Mr. Pence co-founded
Coldwater Creek in 1984 as a catalog company and served as Chief
Executive Officer from 1984 through December 2000 and then again
from September 2002 until October 2007. During these periods, the
Company enjoyed exceptional growth and developed a national brand
that now spans 355 stores and generated more than $1.0 billion in
net sales in fiscal 2008. Mr. Griesemer has resigned from his
position as a director, President and Chief Executive Officer. "I
would like to thank Dan Griesemer for his many contributions," said
Mr. Pence. "He has been an outstanding member of our team and we
wish him great success in his future endeavors." About Coldwater
Creek Coldwater Creek is an integrated multi-channel retailer of
women's apparel, jewelry, gifts and accessories through a growing
number of full-line retail stores across the nation, an e-commerce
Web site at http://www.coldwatercreek.com/ and direct-mail
catalogs. CONTACT: Lyn Walther, Divisional Vice President, Investor
Relations Phone: 208-265-7005 Web site:
http://www.coldwatercreek.com/ CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the securities
laws. These statements are based on management's current
expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and
risks, which could cause our actual results to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from estimates or projections contained in the
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: -- the
inherent difficulty in forecasting consumer buying and retail
traffic patterns and trends, which continue to be erratic and are
affected by factors beyond our control, such as the current
macroeconomic conditions and the global credit crisis, continuing
heavy promotional activity in the specialty retail marketplace, and
competitive conditions and the possibility that because of lower
than expected customer response, or because of competitive pricing
pressures, we may be required to sell merchandise at lower than
expected margins, or at a loss; -- the possibility that our
SG&A and cash projections will not be realized, due to changing
business conditions, including our potential decision to invest
opportunistically in our business; -- our potential inability to
recover the substantial fixed costs of our retail store base due to
sluggish sales; -- our potential inability to continue to fund our
operations solely with operating cash as a result of either lower
sales or higher than anticipated costs, or both; -- delays we may
encounter in sourcing merchandise from our foreign and domestic
vendors, including the potential inability of our vendors to
finance production of the goods we order; risks related to our
foreign sourcing strategy; and the possibility that foreign
sourcing may not lead to any reduction of our sourcing costs or
improvement in our margins; -- the effect of volatile energy costs
on various aspects of our business, including shipping,
transportation, merchandise acquisition and consumer spending; --
increasing competition from discount retailers and companies that
have introduced concepts or products similar to ours; --
difficulties encountered in anticipating and managing customer
returns and the possibility that customer returns will be greater
than expected; -- the inherent difficulties in catalog management,
for which we incur substantial costs prior to mailing that we may
not be able to recover, and the possibility of unanticipated
increases in mailing and printing costs; -- unexpected costs or
problems associated with our efforts to manage our expanding and
increasingly complex business, including our current efforts to
improve key management information systems and controls; -- the
risk that the benefits expected from our strategic initiatives will
not be achieved or may take longer to achieve than we expect; and
such other factors as are discussed in our most recent Annual
Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place
undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on
current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release.
We are not obligated to publicly release any revisions to
forward-looking statements, and disclaim any intent or obligation
to update them to reflect facts or events occurring after the date
of this release. DATASOURCE: Coldwater Creek Inc. CONTACT: Lyn
Walther, Divisional Vice President, Investor Relations, Coldwater
Creek Inc., +1-208-265-7005 Web Site:
http://www.coldwatercreek.com/
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