Lifestyle Brand Guru Named Forever 21 CEO

Fashion brand Forever 21 has introduced a new chief executive officer, leaning on the talents of Winnie Park, who brings lifestyle brand experience as past CEO for Paper Source. In her six years with the company, Park transformed the brand from a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer to a lifestyle brand, leveraging a digital strategy with several touch points: social, digital content, online subscriptions, and affiliate partnerships. She also led the sale of the brand to an affiliate of Barnes & Noble. 

Park will report into Marc Miller, CEO of SPARC, the dedicated operating partner of Forever 21. 

"As a longtime shopper and admirer of the brand, I am honored to join Forever 21 at such a pivotal time of reinvention and reinvigoration," Park said in a statement. "I am looking forward to partnering with this exceptional leadership team to continue the transformation of this brand with a focus on the Forever 21 community, including its people, purpose, and business priorities across digital and traditional retail channels."

Prior to Paper Source, Park held high-profile executive roles across e-commerce, global marketing, and fashion merchandising, including a nine-year tenure at the Hong Kong-based international luxury retail leader, DFS, a division of LVMH. There she launched the company's first global e-commerce site for fashion, beauty, watch/jewelry, and spirits serving customers across China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S. 

Park is on the Board and Audit Committee of Dollar Tree, a publicly traded Fortune 500 retailer and is on the Board for Women in Retail Leadership. She has also served as an Independent Board Director and member of the Compensation and Governance and Audit Committees for Express, where she worked on their strategic turn-around with a focus on their merchandising, e-commerce, and digital marketing initiatives.

"We are thrilled to have Winnie join the Forever 21 team. She is an inspirational leader and team builder who brings deep omnichannel experience and a track record of successfully growing businesses with particular strengths in strategy, merchandising, marketing, and branding,”  said Marc Miller, CEO of SPARC, in a statement.

“As CEO, Winnie will add fresh perspective and approaches in connecting with the Forever 21 customer, which will help drive Forever 21 from its current $2B sales level to new heights of success as a leading brand in SPARC's Fashion and Lifestyle brand portfolio,” he added.