Lids Promotes Maughan to President
There’s a changing of the guard at Lids.
Britten Maughan, formerly senior vice president of marketing and partnerships for the headwear retailer, has been promoted to president, a new position.
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At the same time, Tom Ripley, chairman and chief executive officer, will transition to executive chairman of Lids in addition to his role as cofounder and partner of Ames Watson, which acquired a stake in Lids in 2019. Maughan will report to Ripley and together they will work to continue to grow the company with a particular focus on international expansion.
“Over the last three years, I have watched Britten’s influence, scope of control and professionalism raise the level of performance of both his team and his peers,” Ripley said. “Britten is well prepared to lead Lids in its next phase of growth.”
Maughan joined the company in 2019, overseeing all product, marketing, merchandising, partnerships and distribution for the retailer. Most notably, he introduced data analytics to improve merchandising and allocation decision making and is also credited with improving the assortment, increasing margins, a higher in-stock position, increasing traffic and leading to record sales results, the company said.
“I am fortunate to be supported in my new role by the very best and brightest,” said Maughan. “My teammates are exceptional, and as a group, we have turned a declining business into a thriving one. Lids’ performance metrics are at all-time highs including traffic and conversion. The vision, capital and resources we receive from our ownership group, Ames Watson, have been a catalyst for our growth. I am excited to leverage my expertise as a retailer and merchant to take Lids to new heights, including signing new partnerships and expanding our footprint both domestically and internationally.”
Prior to joining Lids, Maughan spent five years with Fanzz in various positions including vice president of buying and marketing. During his time there, Maughan oversaw Fanzz’s 125 sports licensed stores before they were acquired by Ames Watson in 2019. He has also been a senior planner at Walmart and a buyer at Overstock.com.
Lids is the largest brick-and-mortar retailer of licensed sports product in North America, with over 30 million hats sold annually across its nearly 2,000 stores and sales of over $1 billion. It is co-owned by Ames Watson, Meek Mill Partners and Fanatics.
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