NEW YORK, April 27, 2004
Liz Claiborne Inc. (LIZ) today announced the
appointment of Aru Kulkarni as president of the Liz Claiborne
Apparel group, effective immediately. Ms. Kulkarni will report
to Fritz Winans, Group President Liz Claiborne Brands and will
be responsible for the missy, petite and woman’s sales
organizations, merchandising for Special Sizes and divisional
marketing activities.
Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Winans said:
"Aru has proven to be a key leader of and contributor to
our organization. I know I can count on her to help guide the
future performance of our group as we evolve and develop the
Liz Claiborne Apparel brand."
"In fact, between 65 and 70 percent of
our units are produced in Asia," said Kulharni, who has
travelled extensively in India, being the daughter of an Indian
Administrative Service officer. A graduate of the University
of Bombay, Kulkarni came to the US with her college sweetheart
and husband Amol for a master's in economics from the University
of Pittsburgh.
"I was at Maidenform, a women's lingerie
company, from 1989 to 1992 and then moved to Warnaco where I
held various sales and marketing executive positions and eventually
moved up to senior vice president of sales and marketing for
Calvin Klein Underwear," she said.
In November 2000, she made another strategic
move and joined her present employers as vice president and
general manager for missy casual sales, before her appointment
recently as president of apparel.
Ms. Kulkarni joined Liz Claiborne in November
of 2000 as VP/GM of Casual Sales. Since then, she has held positions
of increasing responsibility -- most recently President of Special
Sizes. Prior to joining Liz Claiborne, Ms. Kulkarni held executive
positions in sales and marketing at Warnaco. She began her career
in retail at Joseph Horne’s in Pittsburgh.
Liz Claiborne Inc.(a $4.25-billion US giant
in fashion apparel, accessories and fragrances) designs and
markets an extensive range of fashion apparel and accessories
for women, men, teens, children and infants. The Company also
markets fragrances for women and men. The more than 34 brands
in the Liz Claiborne Inc. portfolio are available at over 30,000
points of sale worldwide.
The firm was named, for the third year in a
row, the most-admired company in the apparel industry by Fortune
magazine. The ranking was determined by taking the largest 10
apparel companies by revenue and polling industry executives,
directors and analysts on eight criteria, using a scale of one
to 10.
