I would like to share a letter that I sent recently to all of our MacPherson’s Employee Owners:
Dear MacPherson’s Employee Owner,
Since the inception of the ESOP in 2010 Stu and I envisioned a time when you, the heart and soul of our company, could carry on successfully without us. Over the past several years the board of directors and I have had extensive discussions aimed at creating a succession plan and we have decided that now’s the time to take a careful step forward.
The search for my replacement will be the first priority. A team consisting of our VP Natasha Nicholson-Bjerre and our two outside Directors, Eric Bachman and John Whiting, has been formed to lead this important company initiative. That team has decided to engage an outside executive search firm to identify suitable candidates for the position of President and CEO of MacPherson’s . The pool of candidates may include members of our current management team as well as outside candidates from the art materials industry or other related fields. In September this team and the board including Stu and myself will begin to evaluate the skills and cultural fit of these outside recruiters. Once we have selected a recruiter the next step will be the search for a new company President.
There is no set time table for selecting a candidate or transitioning that person into my role. I intend to remain in my current capacity as long as it takes to identify a candidate and provide them with the training and guidance necessary to assume my responsibilities. Beyond the transition I foresee playing an active and continuing supportive role. That could easily be 5 to 8 years from now.
My primary focus, as always, is on the health and future success of MacPherson’s. The Executive Team, The Board of Directors and myself are all committed to making sure that this transition in senior management is successful.
We wanted to share this information with you as part of our commitment to transparent reporting and open book management especially given the fact that some strangers in the form of the recruiter firms might be showing up soon. Questions are bound to arise and we welcome your inquiries and feedback. This is an important milestone in the history of MacPherson’s and the ESOP and we want everyone to feel secure in the knowledge that the future success of the company is our number one priority.
Your questions and feedback will be most welcome.
Best regards,
Frank
Frank Stapleton
MacPherson’s-an Employee Owned Company
1375 Ocean Avenue
Emeryville, CA 94608
Tel: 510-768-6600
Fax: 413-254-0133
franks@macphersonart.com
