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Williams-Sonoma taps CEO
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February 12, 2001: 5:21 p.m. ET
Upscale household goods retailer picks CEO who helped turn around Venator
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Specialty retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc. has gone shopping for a new CEO and come away with Dale Hilpert, one of the men who helped turn round athletic goods retailer Venator Group Inc.
 Hilpert leaves Venator after five years there, the last 10 months as chairman and CEO. Venator operates the various Foot Locker chains as well as Champs Sports, and used to operate the former F.W. Woolworth discount chain, which the company decided to close 1997. The company also closed 467 Kinney Shoe stores while Hilpert was with the company.
The tough measures at Venator under Hilpert's tenure helped save a troubled company. In its fiscal year ending Jan. 27 the company saw sales rise 11 percent to $4.1 billion, while sales at stores open at least a year, a closely watched retail measure known as same-store sales, gained almost 12 percent.
The company also said it expected to meet earnings per share projections for the year in the 74-to-78 cent range. First Call's forecast called for full year EPS of 77 cents, more than double the 30 cent EPS it earned a year earlier.
Hilpert will leave Venator (Z: Research, Estimates) March 3 and will assume his new job at Williams-Sonoma (WSM: Research, Estimates) on April 2.
 Williams Sonoma's current CEO, Howard Lester, will retain his chairman title with the San Francisco-based upscale retailer, which oversees the brand Williams Sonoma, various Pottery Barn brands, the Hold Everything catalog and the Chambers brand.
Williams-Sonoma has not been in serious trouble, but it did warn investors in October that it would miss third-quarter results due to lower-than-expected catalog sales and falling profit margins.
Hilpert will be replaced at Venator by Matthew Serra, who is currently president and chief operating officer, and will become CEO and president effective March 4. Serra joined the company in 1998 as president and CEO of its Foot Locker Worldwide division. He had previously served as CEO of the Sterns, department store chain owned by Federated Department Stores Inc. (FD: Research, Estimates).
J. Carter Bacot, the former chairman and CEO of the Bank of New York and a member of the Venator board since 1993, will assume the title of chairman of Venator with Hilpert's departure.
Shares of Williams-Sonoma closed up 28 cents at $24.90, while Venator shares gained 14 cents to $12.04. 
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