Jamie Dunton and Gabriella Botelho are the first graduates of the program, created by the WJA Foundation and Julius Klein Diamonds.
Alex & Ani President, CFO Leave Company
Cindy DiPietrantonio and Bob Woodruff were hired under contracts that expired and decided to move on, a company spokesperson said.
Cranston, R.I.--Two executives have left fashion jewelry company Alex & Ani.
President Cindy DiPietrantonio and Chief Financial Officer Bob Woodruff have departed the Cranston, Rhode Island-based manufacturer, company attorney Mark Geragos confirmed.
He told National Jeweler Wednesday the two were hired under one-year contracts. They were both there for a little more than that but made the decision to move on at the end of 2017.
Neither have yet been replaced, but Geragos said the company is focusing largely on filling the positions internally.
DiPietrantonio joined the company in July 2016. Woodruff was hired that September.
The resignation of the two executives is the latest in a number of departures for Alex & Ani.
DiPietrantonio was hired to replace Harlan Kent, the former CEO of Yankee Candle, who held the position of president of Alex and Ani for less than a year.
Woodruff was replacing Jayne Fitzpatrick-Conway, who joined the company in 2014 and served as CFO for about two years.
Geragos said that despite the “fluidity” of the top executives, the company is on track to break sales records.
Alex and Ani, which is a private company and thereby not required to publicly disclose its complete financials, has seen sales skyrocket in the past few years. According to Forbes, revenues increased from $5 million in 2010 to more than $500 million in 2016.
Geragos said the company is targeting $1 billion in 2018, and have a number of new initiatives planned for the year, including getting into precious metals “in a large way” (more information on that initiative will be released soon, he said) and new collections.
He added that this immense growth and goals for the coming year is likely why the company is looking inward to fill the open executive spots.
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