After taking Deckers Brands to new heights, Dave Powers is retiring.
Following a similar storyline at Crocs earlier on Thursday, the Goleta, Calif.-based footwear company announced that its president and chief executive officer Dave Powers will retire on Aug. 1. According to Deckers, Powers is expected to continue serving as a member of the company’s board of directors through the 2025 annual meeting of stockholders.
Stefano Caroti, the company’s chief commercial officer, will take over for Powers upon his retirement, Deckers said.
The company added in a release that Caroti’s appointment follows a thorough succession planning process conducted by the board, assisted by a leading executive search firm. Deckers also expects Caroti to be nominated to serve as a member of the board at the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders.
In a statement on Thursday, Powers said that serving as CEO of Deckers “has been a great honor,” and that he is “incredibly proud” of the company’s accomplishments to date.
“Since joining Deckers in 2012, we have experienced explosive growth driven by incredible – and still increasing – brand heat across Ugg and Hoka,” Powers said. “Our organization has proven to be incredibly resilient, and we have worked with agility to continuously achieve our goal of doing good and doing great. I’m confident Deckers will continue to excel throughout this transition and into the future with Stefano at the helm, and I wish all my colleagues the best as we begin our next chapter.”
Mike Devine, chairman of Deckers’ board, thanked Powers for his “outstanding leadership over the last decade” and wished him the best in his retirement. “For more than a decade, Dave has played an instrumental role in building Deckers into the leader it is today,” Devine said. “Dave has fostered each of our brands so that they have become consumer favorites, capitalizing on market trends and dramatically increasing shareholder value throughout his tenure.”
Powers joined Deckers as president of direct-to-consumer in August 2012. He was then appointed president of omni-channel in January 2014, later becoming the company’s president in March 2015. He took over as CEO in June 2016.
Prior to joining Deckers, Powers held several executive leadership roles at Converse, Timberland and Gap Inc. In May 2022, he joined the board of directors and currently serves on the audit committee of Solo Brands, Inc.
As for Caroti, he has over 32 years of industry experience in general management, sales, retail, product, marketing, business strategy and brand management. He was named as chief commercial officer of Deckers in April 2023, after serving as the company’s president of omni-channel for nearly eight years and as interim president of Hoka.
This news comes as Deckers delivered its largest quarter in history during the third quarter. The company reported net sales increased 16 percent to $1.560 billion in Q3 compared to $1.346 billion the same time last year.
