Destination adds turnaround CFO
David Stern was at Pep Boys, AC Moore
Destination Maternity Corp. has named David Stern, who took the top financial jobs at troubled Philadelphia-area retailers Pep Boys and A.C. Moore before they were sold, as Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer, in charge of finance, accounting, real estate, loss prevention and procurement.
Sales, profits and share values for the 1,500-store motherswear chain have fallen since 2013, when Destination began moving its headquarters from Philadelphia to Moorestown to accomodate expected growth and exploit a $40 million New Jersey financial incentive package.
Stern held the same titles -- EVP-CFO -- at North Philadelphia-based garage and auto-parts store chain Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack when it was for sale from 2012-2016.
He left Pep Boys earlier this year after buyer Carl Icahn -- who paid over $1 billion for the 800-store chain, outbidding Japan's Bridgestone Tire -- replaced most of Pep Boys' Philadelphia-area executives with bosses from his Georgia-based car-parts chain, Auto Plus.
Before that, Stern was EVP-CFO and Chief Administrative Officer of A.C. Moore Arts and Crafts, the South Jersey-based hobby-supply chain that was sold to supplier-creditor Sbar's at a deep discount to its former trading value in 2011.
An internal auditor by training, Stern was also chief financial officer at Petro Services in 2000-07.