Great Clips Announces Executive Leadership Changes

By: Great Clips | 4 Shares 125 Reads

February 10, 2011 // Franchising.com // MINNEAPOLIS — Great Clips, the world's largest salon brand, is proud to announce several promotions across its executive leadership team. These promotions, effective, Feb. 1, 2011, were aimed at providing greater collaboration and alignment of the talent within the organization in order to further position Great Clips as a legacy brand for decades to come.

Ray Barton, formerly CEO and Chairman of the Board, will be focusing his efforts specifically on the Chairman position. Barton will be preparing the Board to take a more active role to help guide Great Clips through key strategic decision-making, ensuring Great Clips is on sound financial footing, that succession planning is implemented and anticipating new areas for future growth.

"As Great Clips moves toward long-term success, not only as a billion dollar brand but also as a legacy brand that will live beyond those of us in the business today, it's to be expected that many are wondering who will lead us to those benchmarks," said Barton. "We want to be a billion dollar brand; and we really want to be a legacy brand—a brand our grandkids and great-grandkids will talk about 70-80 years from now. There are tremendous opportunities before us and these transitions will allow us to move toward achieving these goals."

Rhoda Olsen, who previously served as President, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer. Olsen will focus on Great Clips' long-term vision and success, maintaining her close relationships with franchisees and increasing Great Clips' presence within the broader industry and business community.

"We are all excited about the growing strength of our company and its potential to be a legacy brand; one that will positively affect the lives of thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of customers," said Olsen. "We've built a great brand that we can be proud of…a brand that means something to our guests. My goal moving forward is to help lead our focus continuing to build that brand so the next generation of guests and team members can benefit from it."

Charlie Simpson, who served the past 12 years as Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, will take over as President for Great Clips. Simpson will concentrate his efforts on growing the Great Clips brand, and on building bench strength and developing future Great Clips leaders.

Simpson notes, "I am excited for the opportunity to guide the Great Clips executive team as we continue to build on the foundation that will take us well beyond our approaching milestone as a billion dollar brand. One of my priorities is for even greater cross-departmental collaboration and knowledge sharing as we continue to leverage new opportunities to develop future leaders for the company."

"Ray, Charlie and I have worked together for over 12 years and share a common vision and belief regarding what has made Great Clips successful and the values that need to be maintained for generations to come," said newly-appointed CEO Rhoda Olsen Olsen. "With that in mind, just as important as understanding what will change with these leadership transitions, is acknowledging what will not change; our brand focus and commitment to our franchisees and customers."

Additionally, Sandra Trenda has been promoted from Vice President and General Counsel to Chief Legal Officer. Trenda will play a key role in brand protection, and will provide a greater focus on franchisee coaching and transitions when the brand is at risk. Steve Hockett has been promoted from Vice President of Operations to Sr. Vice President of Operations. Hockett will expand his role beyond the Operations and Business Services teams to leverage his depth of knowledge to other functions in the organization, including bringing Marketing and Communications under the Operations' umbrella.

About Great Clips, Inc.

Great Clips, Inc. was established in 1982 in Minneapolis. Today, Great Clips has nearly 3,000 salons throughout the United States and Canada, making it the world's largest salon brand. Great Clips franchised salons employ nearly 25,000 stylists who receive ongoing training to learn advanced skills and the latest trends. With no appointments needed and salons open nights and weekends, this makes Great Clips a top choice for value-priced, high-quality haircare for men, women and children. For more information about Great Clips, Inc. or to find a location near you, visit www.greatclips.com.

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