Levi’s said it didn’t force out brand president Jennifer Sey amid the executive’s outspokenness on COVID-19 related school closures in California.
“Today, Levi Strauss & Co. announced management changes affecting our executive leadership team. Seth Ellison, executive vice president and chief commercial officer will assume responsibility as the Levi’s brand president on an interim basis in addition to his commercial duties, replacing Jen Sey, who resigned from the company. LS&Co. has initiated a search for a new Levi’s® brand president, an opportunity to lead one of the world’s best known and most respected consumer brands,” a Levi’s spokesperson told Yahoo Finance in an email.
Yahoo Finance also asked Levi’s if it has a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“Since the start of the pandemic, our priority has always been the health and well-being of our employees and our customers, and one of our principles has been that we will follow all local laws and ordinances. We strongly encourage employees to receive COVID vaccinations. For our San Francisco corporate offices people are coming to do essential work, and we return to hybrid work later this month,” the spokesperson added.
The comments come as Levi’s takes on heavy fire in the pool of public opinion on their reported dealings with Sey, who is seen on Wall Street as a key driver of the company’s successful results in recent years.
Sey said in a new Substack post she was pushed out of Levi’s for her public views on whether schools should be closed due to COVID-19. Sey is the mother of four children.
The exec said she left a $1 million severance on the table so as to not have to agree to a non-disclosure requirement.
“Meantime, the Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the company asked that I do an ‘apology tour.’ I was told that the main complaint against me was that “I was not a friend of the Black community at Levi’s.” I was told to say that “I am an imperfect ally.” (I refused.),” Sey wrote in the post.
The exec said “copies of dossier of my tweets and all of my online interactions were sent to the CEO by the head of corporate communications.”
Sey continued, “In the fall of 2021, during a dinner with the CEO, I was told that I was on track to become the next CEO of Levi’s—the stock price had doubled under my leadership, and revenue had returned to pre-pandemic levels. The only thing standing in my way, he said, was me. All I had to do was stop talking about the school thing.”
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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