FREEPORT, Maine — After a yearlong search, L.L. Bean has named a new president and CEO to lead the Freeport-based outdoor retailer.
Stephen Smith, a seasoned international retail executive, takes over for retiring Chris McCormick, the company announced Tuesday. He starts in early January.
Smith, who lives abroad in China, has ties to Maine. In the late 1990s, he worked for Resort Sports Network and later became director of marketing at Hannaford.
“It’s a privilege to have been selected as the next president and CEO of L.L. Bean. This is a company I have known well for many years as a customer, as well as a retail leader,” Smith, 45, said in an internal memo to employees Tuesday.
“From its humble beginnings, through its remarkable growth, what remains most impressive about L.L. Bean is that after 100-plus years, spanning mail, phone, e-commerce and retail, the company remains steadfast in its commitment to quality,” he said.
Smith has held executive level roles at Wal-Mart International subsidiaries, including Sam’s Club in China; ASDA in the United Kingdom; and Yihaodian, a pure e-commerce business located in Shanghai.
He is the fourth president for the company and the first who has not been born a Bean or worked his way up through the ranks. McCormick, who announced his plans to retire in May 2014, started working at L.L. Bean in 1983.
Shawn Gorman, chairman of the board, said Tuesday that Smith’s technical experience will help the company reach more mobile customers via smartphone apps and keep L.L. Bean relevant in the fast-changing world of commerce. As the company sells hunting boots and tote bags to customers in Japan and China, it doesn’t want to lose its personal touch.
“A cultural fit is equally as important. In a family run business for 103 years, we have a way of doing business. It’s not just about shareholders values. Steve’s personal values match with our corporate values,” said Gorman, the great-grandson of the company’s founder, who led the hiring process.
Smith said, “In all of my experiences I always focused on the customer. I have forever been passionate about that.”
He said he accepted the job, which he interviewed for for six months, because it was “a marriage of three things: my own personal passion for outdoors, doing right by your employees and customers.”
The news comes on the heels of change for the Bean family— longtime leader and former president Leon Gorman died in September from cancer at age 80. Now McCormick, named president in 2001, retires after a long run.
Smith, who met Gorman briefly, assured employees he would uphold the company’s commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.
“There aren’t many business leaders in the world who would leave the legacy that Leon has left, both in terms of the way he ran the business and the impact he had on the community,” he said in the memo. “I see it as an honor and a duty to be a steward of such a great organization.”
Smith is looking forward to moving back to Maine with his family and putting down roots.
“I plan on being here for a long time,” he said.
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