Victoria’s Secret taps chief exec of Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty as its new CEO
Victoria’s Secret & Co. has named a seasoned retail merchant as its new chief executive.
The company appointed Hillary Super as CEO and a member of the board, effective Sept. 9. She succeeds the departing Martin Waters in both roles.
Timothy (TJ) Johnson, Victoria’s Secret chief financial and administrative officer, will serve as interim CEO from Aug. 14 through September. Waters will remain as an advisor to the company through Aug. 31 to support a smooth transition.
Super joins Victoria’s Secret from Savage X Fenty — the billion-dollar, inclusive intimates and accessories brand launched by music megastar Rihanna — where she has served as CEO since June 2023. Previously, she was global CEO of Anthropologie Group, an Urban Outfitters Company.
Before joining Anthropologie Group in 2018, Super held a variety of merchandising and operator roles at retailers including Guess?, American Eagle Outfitters, Gap Inc. and Ann Taylor Inc.
“VS&Co welcomes Hillary as our new CEO to power the business’ next chapter and deliver the foremost tenet of our transformation strategy: accelerating growth in our core business in North America,” stated chair of the board Donna James. “We are particularly impressed with her merchant leadership capabilities paired with an operator’s discipline and bias for driving value creation. She understands vertically integrated retail brands and has an intuitive understanding of the consumer landscape, informed by customer insights which are critical for consistently delivering in this industry and its ever-accelerating fashion and economic cycles.”
Victoria’s Secret was previously part of L Brands Inc., which also included Bath & Body Works. The two companies were spun off into two independent public businesses in June 2021.
[READ MORE: L Brands reveals name for spun-off Victoria’s Secret]
Waters was named CEO of Victoria’s Secret by L Brands in 2020. He continued to lead the brand after it was spun-off.
In conjunction with the CEO announcement, Victoria’s Secret said it now expects second quarter adjusted per share earnings of $0.34 to $0.39, well in front of its earlier forecast of $0.05 to $0.20 and also way ahead of analysts’ estimates of $0.16 a share analysts. The company plans to release its full second-quarter results on Aug. 29.
“We were encouraged by the continued sequential improvement in quarterly sales results in North America for the fourth consecutive quarter, as sales trends improved in both our stores and digital channels,” the company stated. “Improving product acceptance and disciplined inventory management led to strong margin performance and our teams continue to relentlessly focus on improving our cost structure, the combination of which has driven year-over-year quarterly operating income growth for the first time since 2021.”
Victoria’s Secret has more than 1,370 stores in nearly 70 countries.
