- After less than three years in the position
- Ciaran Long taking over temporarily
(exechange) — San Francisco, California, March 9, 2023 — Jill Ramsey, chief executive of Aka Brands, takes a leave of absence. As announced by Aka Brands Holding Corp. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Thursday, March 9, 2023, Jill E. Ramsey leaves her post as chief executive officer at the brand accelerator of next generation fashion brands, after less than three years in the role, effective immediately.
exechange tracks CEO departures at the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., examines the reasons CEOs leave and determines the Push‑out Score™, a measure of pressure on departing chief executives on a scale of 0 to 10.
Jill Ramsey’s duties as CEO will be taken over temporarily by Ciaran Long, most recently chief financial officer at Aka Brands Holding Corp., as acting chief executive officer.
“Unforeseen medical issues”
Aka Brands stated: “Jill Ramsey, chief executive officer, will be taking time to work through unforeseen medical issues. Jill Ramsey will remain as active in the business as her health allows and will remain on the Board. During this time, Ciaran Long, chief financial officer, will serve as acting chief executive officer on an interim basis.”
Share price decline since March 2022
The announcement follows a decline in A.k.a. Brands Holding Corp.’s share price of 80% since March 2022.
In the position of CEO since 2020
Jill Ramsey became CEO of the Company in 2020.
Jill Ramsey joined the Company in May 2020 as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and began serving on the Board prior to the IPO.
Prior to joining the Company, Ramsey served as Chief Product and Digital Revenue Officer at Macy’s, Inc. from December 2017 to April 2020, where she led macys.com and the Macy’s mobile app.
During her tenure, she drove a transformational change toward a more digital, agile, data and customer centric culture.
Prior to Macy’s, she served as a Vice President of Merchandising at eBay from November 2015 to December 2017, where she led all eBay vertical businesses (excluding automotive) and merchandising support functions.
Ramsey also spent 15 years at Walmart in eCommerce, leading merchandising across various categories. Ramsey serves on the Board of Directors for Flexco, a global manufacturer of conveyor belt products.
She also serves on their Governance and Compensation Committees.
Ramsey holds an MBA in eCommerce and Strategy from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, and received a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago.
No statement by Jill Ramsey
The announcement of her departure as CEO does not include a statement by Jill Ramsey.
37% of CEOs are forced out or fired
When CEO departures are announced, exechange determines the Push-out Score on a scale of 0 to 10 to assess how likely it is that the chief executive was pushed out or felt pressure to leave the position, with 0 being most likely a voluntary move and 10 being most likely a forced exit. Anything over a 5 indicates that there are valid reasons to believe an executive may have been pushed out.
Of the 328 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (March 9, 2022, to March 8, 2023), the average Push-out Score was 5.9, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When performance issues, time with family or other opportunities were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.
Around 37% of the CEO departure events from the past 12 months received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher.
In other words, in the past 12 months, one in three departing CEOs were forced out or fired.
Push-out Score for Jill Ramsey’s move determined
The Push-out Score regarding Jill Ramsey’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.
exechange reached out to Aka Brands and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 11.2023 ($).