Mindy Meads, former president of Aéropostale Inc. (New York) and, before that, of the Victoria’s Secret Direct division of Limited Brands Inc. (Columbus, Ohio), has been named the first ceo of Calypso St. Barth (Long Island City, N.Y.).
The high-end island and resort brand of apparel and accessories, which has about 50 boutiques in North America, was founded on St. Barth in 1992 but has never had a chief executive. It is owned by Solera Capital LLC (New York), which has expressed plans for expanding the chain and perhaps take it public.
Meads has been consulting since resigning her post at Aéropostale in 2010 after three years. During her tenure, Aéropostale was the fastest-growing apparel company in the U.S. She also launched the successful P.S. from Aéropostale brand.
Prior to that, Meads headed the Victoria’s Secret direct operations for about five months and has held senior management positions at the Lands' End division of Sears Holding Inc. (Hoffman Estates, Ill.) and Gymboree Corp. (San Francisco).
From 1991 to 1996, she served as senior vp of merchandising and design and vp, gmm, for Lands' End in Dodgeville, Wis., before it was acquired by Sears.