Neiman Marcus just lost its financial chief to the owner of Men’s Wearhouse — a company that may be in even worse financial shape than the struggling luxury retailer.
Some insiders blame Neiman’s boss.
On Tuesday, Brandy Richardson, a 15-year Neiman veteran who is currently its CFO, revealed in a surprise statement she was “thrilled” to be joining Men’s Wearhouse parent Tailored Brands.
On Wednesday, a source close to Neiman confirmed she “made the decision to step down from her position for an opportunity outside the company.”
One insider told On The Money the move is evidence that Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck’s “leadership style of putting himself first is catching up to the company. It’s no longer the destination for retail talent.”
“The environment is so bad that she left for a company that has no CEO and is in the midst of a hopeful, but questionable turnaround,” the source said, referring to Richardson’s move to Tailored Brands, whose CEO Dinesh Lathi stepped down in March amid continued sales declines and hasn’t been replaced.
Richardson’s “move falls into the category of ‘People don’t leave companies, they leave leaders,’ ” the source added.
As The Post has reported, van Raemdonck has come under fire from the company’s employees — and even government regulators — for grabbing more than $4 million in bonuses before and after Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy protection in May 2020 while at the same time dramatically cutting the pay and benefits of the rank and file employees.
The Belgian-born executive, who was named CEO in February 2018, also rankled his employees by keeping an extravagant medical insurance perk for himself and a select number of senior executives after the bankruptcy and for an ill timed magazine spread of his opulent home in Dallas that came out while staffers were getting pink slips.
Neiman has hired an executive-search firm to replace Richardson, who will stay on until Nov. 5 to assist a “smooth transition,” a source said.
A source close to Neiman added that the retailer is “a woman co-founded and majority-women-led business.” All of Neiman’s board committees are chaired by women and 70 percent of its executive team are women, the source noted.
Neiman executives ranked SVP and higher have recently come from prominent brands like Louis Vuitton, Macy’s, Gap and Target, the source added.
A Neiman spokesman declined to comment, and Richardson referred a request for comment to Tailored, which echoed it was “thrilled” about her move.
