(SGI+) Wolverine World Wide has appointed Joelle Grunberg as global president of its Sperry division and Tom Kennedy as global president of the Wolverine brand, with oversight for the Licensing Group and membership on the acquisitions team. Grunberg has spent the past seven years as president and chief executive for North and Central America at Lacoste. She began her career in accounting and consulting, with posts at Ernst & Young, Deloitte and McKinsey, before becoming CEO for watches and jewelry at Galeries Lafayette and then CEO of business development at Celio, a French chain of apparel stores. She currently serves as an independent director on the board of Ecco Shoes. Kennedy has spent the past three years in Boston as president of Sperry and is now returning to Michigan, where Wolverine has its headquarters. He was hired by Wolverine in 2015 as president of apparel and accessories. He has also served as a division president at Pacific Sunwear, as a vice president of Fossil brand, in Nike’s U.S. apparel division, in Old Navy’s men’s, boy’s and men’s active departments, and as a merchandising manager at Gap.
Paul Sperry, an American sailor, inventor and explorer, founded Sperry in 1935 when he invented the world’s first boat shoe, the Top-Sider. Wolverine World Wide acquired the Massachusetts-based brand in 2012 and is the fourth owner since Sperry’s inception 85 year ago.
The Wolverine brand is a Michigan-based footwear and apparel company that has been making durable work boots with the highest-quality materials for more than 135 years.
