Doug Williams Elevated to Chief Executive Officer and Director of HMX Group
CHICAGO, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ --HMX, LLCand Coppley Corp. (HMX Group), home of iconic apparel brands such as Hickey Freeman, Hart Schaffner Marx, Bobby Jones, and Coppley, and rising brands such as Simply Blue, Exclusively Misook and Monarchy, announced today that they have elevated Doug Williams to Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Williams has also been named a director of HMX Group.
Earlier this month, Williams joined the company as President and Chief Operating Officer.
"Our intent when we brought Doug on board was for him to assume this expanded role as soon as possible," said Nitin Kasliwal, Chairman of HMX Group and Vice Chairman of SKNL, India's largest textile and apparel company. "He has hit the ground running and is the right player to help us face the challenges of this turnaround in a difficult retail environment."
Williams assumes the title from Ajay Khaitan. Khaitan had been named CEO and Vice Chairman upon the August 7, 2009 closing of the sale of substantially all of the assets of the Hartmarx Corporation to HMX, LLC.
"The positive response to Doug has been immediate and electric," said Khaitan. "I am delighted that we are able to initiate this transition so quickly and happy we've got an outstanding leader in place for the long term." Khaitan remains Vice Chairman of the HMX Group and will be based in London.
Doug is a 25-year veteran of the apparel industry with broad expertise in wholesale, licensing, retail, mergers and acquisitions, product sourcing and international business development. Most notably, Williams spent 17 years with Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation. During his time there, he rose to Group President and held senior sales positions in the men's wholesale group and leadership positions in licensing, international business development, global manufacturing, and new business segments.
"Over the course of the last several weeks, I've met with most of our customers and all of our employees discussing the tremendous opportunity we have in front of us. We will deliver on our promises to them. I have no doubt we will restore our iconic brands to their rightful status and grow our businesses to their true potential."
"We are fortunate to have the support and incredible goodwill of the communities where our people work, and where our facilities operate," Williams continued, "We don't take that for granted. There is much work to be done, but we have the focus, commitment and heart to achieve great things."
About HMX Group
HMX Group is America's leading tailored clothing company, with a diverse portfolio of brands, both owned and licensed, that are distributed through all domestic retail channels and internationally. HMX's most prominent brands include Hickey Freeman, Coppley, Monarchy, Christopher Blue, Bobby Jones*, Jack Nicklaus*, Austin Reed*, Sansabelt and Hart Schaffner Marx, the brand worn by U.S. presidents past and present. North American tailored clothing manufacturing is based in Rochester, New York; Des Plaines, Illinois; and Hamilton, Ontario. The privately-held U.S.-based company acquired assets of the company formerly known as Hartmarx Corporation in August, 2009.
*The referenced trademarks are licensed to and not owned by HMX Group or an affiliated company.
