Brown Shoe CEO has new shoes to fill

ST. LOUIS — Brown Shoe Company’s president and CEO Diane Sullivan will have new shoes to fill as chairman of theboard, effective Feb. 2, 2014, once Ron Fromm steps down as chair. Fromm will remain a member of the board.

Sullivan was named president and CEO in May 2011, and since then has been focused on aligning the company’s brands and businesses with both its mission and strategic financial goals. The company says that in the past two years it has made great strides in its portfolio realignment efforts at the infrastructure, retail and brand levels, which has led to a significant improvement in shareholder value.

Sullivan began at Brown Shoe Company in 2004 as president and assumed the additional role of COO in 2006. She was elected to the board in 2007. Prior to Brown Shoe Company, she worked at the Stride Rite Corporation, where she served as president and COO of the corporation and as a member of its board. From there, Sullivan went to Phillips-Van Heusen as vice chairman of footwear before joining Brown Shoe Company. In addition to serving on several footwear industry boards, Sullivan is currently on the boards of BJC HealthCare and Enterprise Holdings and will become a member of the board of trustees at Washington University on July 1.

Brown Shoe Company is a global footwear company which serves three key market segments with its family brands Famous Footwear, Famous.com and shoes.com; its healthy living brands Naturalizer, Dr. Scholl's Shoes, LifeStride and Ryka; and its contemporary fashion brands Via Spiga, Vince, Sam Edelman, Franco Sarto, Carlos Santana and Fergie Footwear.