Signet Sees 2 More Retire from Upper Ranks

Akron, Ohio--Two more high-ranking executives at Signet Jewelers Ltd. have announced their intentions to retire.

The retailer said Wednesday that Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer Stuart Lee, who has been with Signet for 21 years, and Clark McEwen, the senior vice president of Signet Direct Diamond Sourcing, are retiring.

The company provided no timeline for their exit or information on when, or if, their positions will be filled.

Lee has been with Signet since August 1996. He started as the director of gold in the company’s merchandising department.

He has held a number of key positions in the company over the years, including as director of merchandising and corporate watches for Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, where he helped introduce two brands that became bestsellers for the chain--LeVian and The Leo branded diamond.

Lee was promoted to his current role as executive vice president of merchandising for Signet in July 2015.

McEwen started at Signet in 2011. Before that, he spent 32 years in the diamond industry, working for Rio Tinto Diamonds, the lab-grown diamond company once known as Gemesis and BHP Billiton, among others.

He is considered one of the world’s preeminent experts in the global diamond supply chain, and it was while McEwen was at Signet that the company introduced its Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds, its plan for tracing the source of all its diamonds.

The news regarding Lee and McEwen comes almost exactly three months after the retailer announced a slew of new hires and two other high-level retirements: Chief Operations Officer Ed Hrabak and Executive Vice President of North American Store Operations Tryna Kochanek, both of whom had been with the company for 30 years.

On Wednesday, Signet reiterated what it said in February when announcing the retirements of Hrabak and Kochanek--that it is adapting to changes in retail and looking to build an “organization of the future” that focuses on improving the customer experience in stores and the digital experience online.

Signet Jewelers is scheduled to announce its first quarter results for its current fiscal year on the morning of May 25.