Helen Vaid joins Abercrombie & Fitch board as independent director

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has announced the election of Helen Vaid as an independent director, effective February 16, 2023.

With Vaid’s election, the company's board of directors expands to eleven, six of whom are female.

Vaid, 51, the company said in a release, was most recently the chief executive officer of Foundry Brands, a digitally native brand platform. In that role, which she held until February 2023, she was responsible for accelerating the omni-channel growth of Foundry’s suite of consumer brands across a range of product categories.

“Helen brings more than 20 years of extremely relevant experience leading customer engagement and growth strategies for a number of consumer products and platforms. She is an industry veteran with digital expertise, who has continually been able to stay at the forefront of an ever-evolving retail landscape, while delivering value to both customers and brands,” said Nigel Travis, chairperson of the board.

Prior to joining Foundry Brands, Vaid held a number of customer-centric leadership roles, responsible for growing businesses in both the digital and physical spaces, including global chief customer officer of Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. and vice president of digital store operations and experience at Walmart.com, a division of Walmart Inc. She also held several technology-focused roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Vaid also currently serves on the board of directors for Groupon, Inc.

“I have been following the transformation of the company closely over the last several years and I’m honoured to be a part of the next chapter,” Vaid added.