– USA, NC – HanesBrands (NYSE: HBI), a leading global basic apparel marketer, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a leadership succession plan, with Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard A. Noll narrowing his role to executive chairman and Chief Operating Officer Gerald W. Evans Jr. assuming the role of chief executive officer, both effective Oct. 1, 2016.
Evans, 57, has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately. With his appointment, the Hanes board has been expanded to 11 members.
Noll and Evans each have held leadership positions at Hanes spanning more than 30 years and have guided the company to become the world’s largest basic apparel company in the nearly 10 years since its 2006 spinoff into an independent publicly-traded company.
“The past decade has been a phenomenal journey, and I am very proud of the amazing accomplishments of our 65,000 employees,” Noll, 58, said. “This is the perfect time to transition our leadership. Our business is healthy, our acquisitions are performing well, and we have a very bright future. I have full confidence in Gerald’s readiness, ability, and vision to drive the business to even greater heights as CEO.”
The executive transition is expected to be seamless as a result of the Board’s continuous leadership succession planning for the company’s senior ranks.
“Each board member has the utmost respect for Rich Noll and Gerald Evans as accomplished leaders of this company,” said the Board’s Lead Director Ronald L. Nelson. “Under Rich’s leadership, the company has increased its annual sales from $4 billion to $6 billion, grown EPS at a compounded rate of 20 percent per year, and quintupled shareholder value from $2 billion to $10 billion. We are grateful for Rich’s decade of leadership and success, and we are thrilled to have such a capable leader as Gerald to build the business even further.”
Evans, who joined the company in 1983, has a long track record of leadership success in marketing, sales and supply chain. As chief operating officer since 2013, he has had responsibility for the day-to-day running of the $6 billion company with direct oversight of all global commercial businesses and supply-chain operations.
Under his leadership, Hanes has strengthened its world-class brands through the company’s Innovate-to-Elevate initiative, created a low-cost global supply chain that spans the Western Hemisphere and Asia, and has overseen acquisition integrations, including Gear for Sports, Maidenform, Knights Apparel and Hanes Innerwear Europe.
“I am honored to become CEO and look forward to driving the organization to the next level of success,” Evans said. “Our brands are primed for growth, our acquisitions are adding significant value and scale, and our product development and innovation pipeline are stronger than ever. Along with our worldwide employees, I am committed to maximizing the value we can create as the very best basics apparel company in the world.”
HanesBrands
HanesBrands, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., is a socially responsible leading marketer of everyday basic innerwear and activewear apparel in the Americas, Europe and Asia under some of the world’s strongest apparel brands, including Hanes, Champion, Playtex, DIM, Bali, Maidenform, JMS/Just My Size, L’eggs, Wonderbra, Nur Die/Nur Der, Lovable and Gear for Sports. The company sells T-shirts, bras, panties, shapewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and activewear produced in the company’s low-cost global supply chain. A member of the S&P 500 stock index, Hanes has approximately 65,300 employees in more than 40 countries and is ranked No. 448 on the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest companies by sales. Hanes takes pride in its strong reputation for ethical business practices. The company is the only apparel producer to ever be honored by the Great Place to Work Institute for its workplace practices in Central America and the Caribbean, and is ranked No. 167 on the Forbes magazine list of America’s Best Employers. For seven consecutive years, Hanes has won the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star sustained excellence/partner of the year award – the only apparel company to earn sustained excellence honors. The company ranks No. 172 on Newsweek magazine’s green list of 500 largest U.S. companies for environmental achievement.
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