Rent the Runway Names Nordstrom Veteran Paige Thomas CEO

Thomas joined the company as CCO in June. Before that, she served as chief merchant and product innovation officer at Signet Jewelers, president and CEO of Saks OFF 5th, and led Nordstrom Rack for five years during her decade with Nordstrom, according to the release.

Thomas will assume her new role Monday (Sept. 14), succeeding Teri Bariquit, who has served as interim CEO and president since May. Bariquit will become non-executive chair of the board of directors, effective Monday, and Dhiren Fonseca will step down as executive chairman and continue as a member of the board, per the release.

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PYMNTS reported in May that Bariquit was appointed interim CEO and president to succeed Rent the Runway Co-Founder Jennifer Hyman, who stepped down as CEO, president and board member while remaining as an adviser to the company.

In the Friday press release, which also reported Rent the Runway’s financial results for the quarter ended July 31, Bariquit said: “Rent the Runway is operating from a focused foundation, with a core rental business that continues to grow and a customer who is telling us what she values most. This quarter we concentrated our resources on that core, delivered capabilities against the discovery experience we committed to at the start of the year and began building a 2027 plan centered on transforming the business.”

Thomas said in the release that she is focused on accelerating the strong foundation the Rent the Runway team has built.

“I’m focused on listening to our customer and making every decision through her lens, doubling down on fashion and what makes this fashion service platform unique, while executing with operational excellence,” Thomas said.

During the most recent quarter, Rent the Runway increased its revenue by 20.8% year over year, to $97.7 million, and increased its total subscribers 0.5% year over year, to 186,019, according to the release.

Rent the Runway ended several pilots and small initiatives to concentrate its resources on its core rental and selling businesses. The company paused its online marketplace pilot, paused on-site advertising and monetization, and stopped pursuing new B2B dry cleaning business opportunities, the release said.

Rent the Runway also launched its artificial intelligence-powered outfits generation feature in June, after piloting it in May, and rolled out avatars within the outfits experience in August, per the release.