Clarks CEO exits, interim committee takes the helm for now

Jonathan Ram has left Clarks after two years running the footwear business in the wake of its takeover by LionRock Capital.

The former HanesBrands and New Balance executive doesn’t have a direct replacement for now.

A company spokesperson told Fashionnetwork.com: “Clarks announces that CEO Jon Ram has made a decision to leave the company to pursue other opportunities. Clarks thanks Jon for his leadership and contribution to Clarks over the last two years. 

“To ensure continuity in the leadership of the company, Clarks Chairman Colin Li and other directors will form an Interim Executive Committee to lead the business, pending a new CEO appointment.”

Ram joined the business in April 2022 with the exec being tasked with rebuilding a global brand that had been through a bruising few years leading up to that point. 

The formerly-family-controlled firm was loss-making during the pandemic but had struggled even before the global health crisis kept shoppers in their homes and put a major dent in their desire to buy shoes.

In late 2020 the company secured £100 million in funding from LionRock Capital, which included the Hong Kong-based investor take a 51% controlling stake in the business. It was the final part of a rescue packaged that hinged on it securing a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to slash rents and prevent the 260-store retailer from collapsing.

That CVA had been voted through in autumn 2020, but landlord groups were unhappy as rents were slashed on 60 of its shops and hundreds of stores had rent arrears wiped out.

In early 2021, Galahad Clark, a seventh-generation family member, told the Sunday Times the business had failed to “move fast enough into the 21st century” and his family was “ultimately are to blame” for “not investing enough in its future”.

But the stories coming out of the business more recently have been much more positive ones with new product launches such as the Torhill, a deluge of interesting collabs, a step into the metaverse, and some cool campaigns starring influential names like Nile Rodgers and Cat Burns.