Herbert Mines Assists Tandy Leather Factory in CFO Search

“We are thrilled to have Steve join our team to lead our finance and accounting function and to play a key role in Tandy’s transformation story,” said Janet Carr, CEO of Tandy Leather Factory. “His broad range of finance roles and deep retail experience, combined with his proven team-building and strategic thinking skills, make him an excellent and unique fit for our team. We want to thank Mike Galvan for his invaluable contributions, in particular to our restatement effort, and his hard work and commitment to helping us get over the finish line in August.”

Mr. Swank joins Tandy Leather from Sears Hometown Stores, where he was vice president, CFO and treasurer. He brings over 25 years of finance, accounting, planning and other relevant experience in a broad range of retail companies, including Sears-branded companies, where he spent the last 11 years, Fossil Group and CompUSA. Mr. Swank has worked in both public and private companies and in both large organizations and small. Coming full circle, Mr. Swank started his career at Tandy Corp. in buying and merchandising.

“It’s an exciting time to be joining Tandy Leather,” Mr. Swank said. “I’m looking forward to being part of the team that can take this 100-year-old heritage brand onto a path of growth to unlock value for shareholders.”

Tandy Leather Factory, headquartered in Fort Worth, TX, is a specialty retailer of a broad product line including leather, leatherworking tools, buckles and adornments for belts, leather dyes and finishes, saddle and tack hardware, and do-it-yourself kits. The company distributes its products through its 108 North American stores located in 40 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces, and one international store located in Spain.

Serving Retail Companies

Established in 1978, Herbert Mines is a specialist search firm focusing on the retail, fashion and apparel, beauty, consumer products and services, hospitality, leisure, restaurant and digital/technology industries. The firm is noted for its C-suite recruiting work.

Working with leading retailers at the top senior levels to assemble winning leadership teams, Ms. Malloy primarily recruits CEOs and their direct reports for multi-channel publicly traded, privately held and private equity firms spanning vertical specialty, branded retail, big box, mass and the specialty department store sectors. She has authored numerous articles on retail CEO succession and multi-channel leadership, in addition to being a featured speaker at NRF.

Ms. Kirk has 25 years in retail and consumer goods. She has led C-level searches for both public and private companies including Sally Beauty Holdings, PetSmart, Batteries Plus Bulbs, Levi Strauss, Burlington Stores, The Container Store, Lilly Pulitzer, Johnny Was and many others. Her expertise extends across product categories/sectors including hardlines, fashion, home, fitness/athleisure, and consumables.

Recent Placement

Following a nationwide search, Herbert Mines Associates recently placed Gil Phipps as the new senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Sprouts Farmers Market in Phoenix, AZ. Ms. Malloy also led this search along with managing director Alison Weil and vice president Caitlin Kenefick.

Sprouts also turned to Herbert Mines last year when the company hired Mr. Sinclair as its new CEO. Mr. Sinclair has over 35 years of experience in retail and grocery. He had been CEO of 99 Cents Only Stores, a discount retailer with over 350 locations in the U.S., since 2018. Prior to that, he was its chief merchandising officer for several years.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media