Chico’s Taps Leana Less as Senior Vice President of Marketing

Leana Less has been named senior vice president of marketing at Chico’s FAS Inc.

She will lead marketing efforts for all three Chico’s FAS brands and outlets — Chico’s, White House Black Market and Soma, as well as drive customer acquisition, spearhead the Chico’s WHBM and Soma loyalty programs and all other end-to-end marketing responsibilities at Chico’s FAS.

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Most recently, Less was head of consumer marketing at Aveda, a subsidiary of the Estée Lauder Cos., where she helped drive significant e-commerce growth, contributing to the brand’s overall expansion efforts. Earlier, she was vice president of global connections and media at Coca-Cola Co., where she crafted a five-year transformation using digital as an enabler for growth. Less has also held several roles in the South African advertising industry, such as director and board member at MediaCom Africa.

“Leana is an exceptional marketing leader whose diverse global experience in consumer engagement, strategic vision and digital expertise will support driving our three-year growth strategy and our four pillars of being customer-led, product obsessed, digital-first and operationally excellent,” said Molly Langenstein, Chicos FAS chief executive officer and president.

“I am delighted to be joining this woman-led organization,” Less said. “I love what the brands stand for and I am looking forward to working closely with Molly and the dynamic team at Chico’s FAS.”

Chico’s which was founded in 1983, is based in Fort Myers, Fla., and operates 1,258 stores in the U.S., 58 international franchise locations in Mexico and two domestic franchise airport locations. In its most recent quarter, the company showed improvement in both top and bottom lines, attributed to strength in both stores and online across the portfolio.

For the quarter ended April 30, the company achieved nearly $35 million in profits, compared with losses of $8.9 million a year ago. Total revenues were nearly $541 million, up from approximately $388 million in the year-ago quarter, as reported.

Chico’s reports its next quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

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