Rue 21 (Warrendale, Pa.) has announced that its current chief executive officer Melanie Cox will be stepping down and Michael Appel will take over on an interim basis. Appel will also lead a new board of directors for the company, which emerged from bankruptcy last month.
According to Women’s Wear Daily, Cox’s role as ceo was always intended to be a “short-term assignment.” Over the next few months, she will work with Appel to transfer her responsibilities by early November and then she will go back to the West Coast, where her family resides.
Appel is founder and president of business consultancy Appel Associates (New York) and most recently served as chairman of Loehmann’s (New York) for two years. He will be the company’s fourth ceo in less than 18 months.