Whitey Ford
07-24-2020, 06:42 PM
The Bizarre Fall of the CEO of Coach and Kate Spade’s Parent Company
https://i.imgur.com/F6AjKy4.png
Zeitlin resigned after Tapestry launched an investigation last week into the CEO’s conduct. The company hired the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson to handle the inquiry, which appears to have been prompted by 60 questions I sent the company on June 23 for this article. Zeitlin was allowed to resign, rather than be fired, and received no severance payment.
The resignation represented a calamitous fall for Zeitlin, 56, one that was nearly as improbable as his rise. Born in Nigeria, the son of a maid, Zeitlin was largely brought up by an American family (which eventually became his legal guardian) and rose to become a rare Black partner at Goldman Sachs before eventually becoming one of only five Black CEOs among Fortune 500 companies.
Zeitlin enjoyed a gilded reputation. His partnership at Goldman Sachs earned him more than $100 million when the firm went public and placed him in the financial elite. And Tapestry thrived during his brief tenure as CEO, at least until the pandemic ravaged the business. “What stood out was the thoughtful assessment, new initiatives, methodical approach, and proactive tone from new CEO Jide Zeitlin,” a research analyst at Evercore ISI wrote in February.
Some problems seemed like benign business stumbles: For example, a company that he ran in India went bankrupt. But then there was what appeared to be almost a past second life for Zeitlin. Working under an alias, he took photos, many sexual, at least some involving nudity, of women in a studio just feet from where his wife and children lived. He had what he now acknowledges was an “inappropriate relationship” with one of the women he photographed. That life had surfaced in 2009, hindering a chance for him to enter government service, only to be publicly left behind — until today.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-bizarre-fall-of-the-ceo-of-coach-and-kate-spades-parent-company
https://i.imgur.com/F6AjKy4.png
Zeitlin resigned after Tapestry launched an investigation last week into the CEO’s conduct. The company hired the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson to handle the inquiry, which appears to have been prompted by 60 questions I sent the company on June 23 for this article. Zeitlin was allowed to resign, rather than be fired, and received no severance payment.
The resignation represented a calamitous fall for Zeitlin, 56, one that was nearly as improbable as his rise. Born in Nigeria, the son of a maid, Zeitlin was largely brought up by an American family (which eventually became his legal guardian) and rose to become a rare Black partner at Goldman Sachs before eventually becoming one of only five Black CEOs among Fortune 500 companies.
Zeitlin enjoyed a gilded reputation. His partnership at Goldman Sachs earned him more than $100 million when the firm went public and placed him in the financial elite. And Tapestry thrived during his brief tenure as CEO, at least until the pandemic ravaged the business. “What stood out was the thoughtful assessment, new initiatives, methodical approach, and proactive tone from new CEO Jide Zeitlin,” a research analyst at Evercore ISI wrote in February.
Some problems seemed like benign business stumbles: For example, a company that he ran in India went bankrupt. But then there was what appeared to be almost a past second life for Zeitlin. Working under an alias, he took photos, many sexual, at least some involving nudity, of women in a studio just feet from where his wife and children lived. He had what he now acknowledges was an “inappropriate relationship” with one of the women he photographed. That life had surfaced in 2009, hindering a chance for him to enter government service, only to be publicly left behind — until today.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-bizarre-fall-of-the-ceo-of-coach-and-kate-spades-parent-company