UNH CEO Forum Welcomes L.L. Bean On Discussion About Leadership Transitions And Culture

Contact: Lori Wright
603-862-0574
UNH Media Relations

Spet. 20, 2005



DURHAM, N.H. – How does a successful business run by the same family for generations transition to its first leader who is not part of the clan? The University of New Hampshire CEO Forum will address that issues when it welcomes executives from L.L. Bean who will discuss “ L.L. Bean Leadership Transitions and Culture.”
 
Bob Peixotto, chief operating officer, and Shawn Gorman, director of partnership marketing, with L.L. Bean will join the next CEO Forum Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005, at the New England Center. Coffee and networking begins at 8 a.m., and breakfast will be served at 8:30 a.m. The program begins at 9 a.m.
 
L.L. Bean, Inc. has produced sporting equipment, apparel and footwear for more than 90 years. Founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean, the company has grown from a one-man operation to a global company with annual sales in excess of $1.4 billion. The company remains privately held by the descendants of L.L. Bean, and company headquarters remain in Freeport, Maine, just down the road from the original store.
 
Recently the company went through a successful transition from long-time family CEOs to the first non-family CEO. Learn what that change has been like and how the culture of L.L. Bean has changed through the years.
 
Peixotto is a member of the company's top management and is responsible for customer satisfaction, distribution and logistics, facilities, health and safety, and human resources. Gorman, who oversees key company business relationships, also is a great-grandson of Leon Leonwood Bean, and as such is a fourth-generation shareholder. He serves on the company’s board of directors and is a member of the board’s compensation committee.
 
To register or to become a member of the CEO Forum, call Barbara Draper at (603) 862-1107, or e-mail her at barbara.draper@unh.edu. The registration deadline is Thursday, Sept. 29.
 
Initiated in 1997, the CEO Forum is an outreach program of the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics and the UNH Graduate School serving CEOs, presidents, and senior managers of companies in northern New England. The forum provides its members with opportunities to meet and exchange ideas with their peers in business and industry in an informal setting. The CEO Forum is sponsored by the law firm of Pierce Atwood and Ocean National Bank. For more information about the CEO Forum, visit http://www.unh-ceoforum.org.