To be Nominated for Vice Presidency Next Month
(New York, March 15, 2000) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art today named Sally Pearson to the post of General Manager of Merchandise and Retail, effective April 3. She will be recommended for election to the additional post of Museum Vice President at the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees in April. Ms. Pearson will assume responsibility for the management and marketing of the Museum shops, mail order, and wholesale businesses, and will also concentrate on building the sale of Museum merchandise on the Metropolitan's Web site (www.metmuseum.org).
Ms. Pearson is a former president of the Liz Claiborne, Inc. specialty shops, a onetime executive vice president for merchandising for Lerner, New York; and a former senior vice president and general manager for women's apparel (and member of the executive committee) of Saks Fifth Avenue.
In announcing her appointment, David E. McKinney, President of the Metropolitan, commented: "We are pleased to welcome a professional of such vast experience and acknowledged reputation to the Museum. Sally Pearson has succeeded at many levels in the world of merchandising, and she brings to the Met a record of accomplishment, professionalism, and creativity that will be of enormous benefit to an area so vital to the support of the Museum's mission. She is a fine addition to our executive family, and we look forward to working with her."
Commented Ms. Pearson: "I am delighted to be joining this great cultural institution — and its extraordinary merchandising operation — and look forward with much enthusiasm to contributing to its health and vitality in the future."
Ms. Pearson began her career with Federated Department Stores in 1969, serving for 24 years in various capacities, and rising in the ranks from divisional store manager and buyer to senior vice president and divisional group merchandise manager; then senior vice president and general merchandise manager of Bullock's in Los Angeles; senior vice president and general merchandise manager of Jordan Marsh in Boston; and ultimately vice president for better sportswear and all branded and private label merchandise at the corporate offices of Federated in New York.
Educated at the Copenhagen International School, Ms. Pearson is a longtime resident of Manhattan.