Macy’s Raider Board Choices Associated with Numerous Retail Failures

In an era when boards of directors are increasingly under fire for not being more involved with the companies they serve, the slate of candidates put up by the two investor groups trying to take over Macy’s may say a lot about what they have in mind if they win the fight.

Among the nine names put forth by Arkhouse Management Co. and Brigade Capital are some well-known names in the retail executive ranks, which is standard practice in these sorts of things. But unlike similar candidate lists, this one contains executives who have been associated with some of the biggest failures in recent retailing history, including Sears Roebuck, Toys’R’Us, Barney’s and Neiman Marcus.

And even if these executives were not necessarily the ones running these companies as CEOs – or if they came in in later restructuring efforts – they often served on company boards and so may share responsibility for what ultimately happened.

What’s more, even if some of the candidates weren’t from the retail side of the business, at least four of them – based on their biographies – are involved in the real estate end.

Either way, these candidates are an ominous sign for what the two potential new owners of Macy’s might have in mind should their takeover fight succeed.

Among the more prominent names:

• Jerry Storch, now listed as CEO of retail consulting firm Storch Advisors, but previously CEO of Toys’R’Us, which filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated. (It is back in business under new ownership and with an entirely different retail format.) He was also once CEO of Hudson’s Bay Co., another retailer that was in perennial trouble before going private, as well as vice chairman of Target.

• Richard Markee, another senior executive with Toys’R’Us. He is also the former CEO of Vitamin Shoppe, another retailer that went private.

• Mohsin (Mo) Meghji, now a managing partner with advisory group M3 Partners, but previously chief restructuring officer of both Sears Holding Corp. and Barneys, the former which is barely hanging on and the latter now liquidated.

• Sharen Tunney, who had been CEO of Victoria’s Secret, a retailer struggling to reinvent itself and Neiman Marcus Direct, part of the parent company which filed for bankruptcy several years ago.

Again, these executives may not have been the ones leading these companies to bankruptcy or liquidation and often their situations had a lot more to do with unrealistic debt structures placed on them by private equity owners rather than any merchandising or operations. Still it can be argued that they must bear some responsibility for what transpired.

Taken together, these four had some management roles  with retailers that ended up closing thousands of stores, impacting tens of thousands of employees and ultimately putting some of the biggest names in the retail world close to or out of business.

What they will do if they get the chance to take over the Macy’s boards is an unknown but one has to think their record of retail failures combined with other board candidates whose expertise is in real estate not retailing is most troubling for Macy’s future.