After months of industrywide speculation about its ongoing executive challenges, New York-based brand-management firm Iconix Brand Group Inc. has named David Jones its new CFO and EVP.
Jones joins Iconix after 12 years with international transportation-services company Penske Automotive Group, where he also served as CFO and EVP.
“I am pleased to welcome David to the Iconix management team,” Iconix CEO Neil Cole said in a release. “He has proven experience as the CFO of a multibillion-dollar public company and has the technical, financial, and strategic skills required to successfully lead Iconix as our Chief Financial Officer.”
The appointment comes just a few months after Iconix made headlines when two senior executives left in a two-week span. The firm’s share price plummeted more than 20 percent in April following news that COO Seth Horowitz had resigned just weeks after CFO Jeff Lupinacci’s March 24 departure.
Now, insiders say the appointment of a “top notch” CFO should quell industry chatter about the firm’s “aggressive accounting practices” as well as uncertainty about its management structure.
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“We are thrilled that an executive with Jones’ experience level has joined Iconix as CFO,” wrote CL King & Associates analyst Steven Marotta in a note this morning. “It stands to reason that someone with a successful track record, depth of experience and high-profile position similar to Jones would not have joined Iconix without first completing (and being comfortable with) a deep-dive of the internal accounting practices and reported results.”
Iconix, parent company of Candies, Badgley Mischka, Rocawear and other brands, reported first-quarter earnings on April 29 that showed a 5 percent gain in net income, to $62.8 million, compared with $59.8 million earned in the prior year’s first quarter.
