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Zale names top management

August 05, 2008

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Dallas—Zale Corp. has announced the promotion of Theo Killion to president and Steve Larkin to executive vice president, chief marketing and e-commerce officer, effective immediately.

Killion, who has served as Zales's executive vice president of human resources, legal and corporate strategy since January 2008, will retain his current responsibilities in addition to assuming responsibility for the company's Shared Services department, which provides customer, employee and store support, and the company's Loss Prevention department. He will continue to report directly to Zale Chief Executive Officer Neal Goldberg.

Larkin, who had served as Zale's senior vice president of e-commerce since January 2006, was promoted in February 2008 to senior vice president of marketing and e-commerce, assuming responsibility for the company's marketing efforts.

"With the appointments announced today, we have strong, proven managers at the head of each of the company's functional areas, allowing for increased communication and accountability," Goldberg said in a media release issued on Tuesday. "Theo is an outstanding manager with tremendous experience and leadership skills. At Zale, he has been instrumental in re-focusing the business to improve execution and enhance our operational effectiveness...Separately, Steve has demonstrated his leadership capabilities overseeing the company's e-commerce business since the beginning of 2006. Over this time, this business has experienced strong, double-digit growth, and this year, reached $55 million in annual revenue. Since assuming responsibility for marketing in February, Steve has led our efforts to increase effectiveness of our marketing by diversifying our tactics and more emotionally connecting with our customers. Given the synergies between marketing and e-commerce, Steve is the right fit to unlock these opportunities."

Zale has also named Mary Kwan as executive vice president, chief merchandising officer.

Kwan, a retail veteran with more than 25 years of merchandising experience, will oversee the merchandising initiatives of all the company's brands. She will report directly to Goldberg.

Kwan most recently served as president and chief merchandising officer for Goody's Family Clothing, which generated revenues of $1.2 billion in 2007. At Goody's, her responsibilities included managing all aspects of design, merchandising, planning, sourcing and e-commerce activities for the company. Prior to Goody's, Kwan held senior merchandising positions at Quiksilver Inc., Levi Strauss and Co. and Lane Bryant. She is a graduate of the University of San Francisco.

"Mary is a seasoned executive with a solid track record of focusing on the customer and building strong merchandising teams," Goldberg said in the release. "She will be instrumental in developing more compelling assortments that highlight our good-better-best value proposition and ensuring we are connecting with our core customer. Additionally, her specialty retail background will be key as we strive to be the best in diamonds, identify trends and create fresh, distinctive offerings."

Zale has also announced that Alexandra Patton Sweeney will re-join the company as vice president, divisional merchandise manager of diamond fashion and anniversary bands, reporting to Kwan.

Sweeney has a strong background in specialty jewelry, having served in various senior buying positions for Bailey, Banks and Biddle during the last 10 years. Prior to that, she was a buyer for Dillards Inc.

Zale is a specialty retailer of fine jewelry in North America operating approximately 2,150 retail locations throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as online. Zale's brands include Zales Jewelers, Zales Outlet, Gordon's Jewelers, Peoples Jewellers, Mappins Jewellers and Piercing Pagoda. Zale also operates online at Zales.com and GordonsJewelers.com.
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