Changing of the guard at May Department Stores

Reynolds, Wilkerson set to retire after 34-year careers

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 2/16/2004 12:00:00 AM

ST. LOUIS —

Two senior executives are retiring from the May Department Stores Company, and two others will be promoted to fill the gaps.

Clarence (Bud) Reynolds, chairman of Lord & Taylor, and Kenneth Wilkerson, chairman of Hecht's/Strawbridge's, will retire following 34-year careers with the company. Both retirements are effective June 1.

Simultaneously, the company will promote Richard Clausing to chairman of Lord & Taylor, succeeding Reynolds, and John Harper to chairman of Hecht's/Strawbridge's, succeeding Wilkerson.

Jane Elfers continues as president and CEO of Lord & Taylor, and Frank Guzzetta continues as president and CEO of Hecht's/Strawbridge's.

Clausing, 48, joined May's corporate office in 1988 as director of accounting and was promoted to vice president of corporate accounting and reporting in 1989.

He was named senior vice president of finance at the St. Louis-based Famous-Barr division in 1994 and assumed his current position as senior vice president of finance at Lord & Taylor, based in New York, in 2001.

Harper, 44, joined May in 1983 as an analyst in accounting at Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh. In 1991, he was appointed vice president-controller at L.S. Ayres in Indianapolis and divisional vice president-controller at Famous-Barr in 1992. He joined Hecht's, May's department store division headquartered in Washington, D.C., in 1993 as vice president-controller and was named senior vice president of operations in 1998. He was appointed to his current position of senior vice president of finance in 2001.