Following its emergence from Chapter 11, Crown Books moved quickly to name a new leader, picking veteran bookseller Charlie Cumello as its president and CEO. Cumello, who succeeds interim CEO Steve Panagos, joined the Crown staff November 29.
Cumello began his bookselling career in 1980 as an executive with Waldenbooks and served as president of the chain from 1991 through 1994. He left Walden following its integration with Borders Group and became president and CEO of Factory Card Outlet, a chain of superstores that sells an assortment of party supplies, greeting cards and other merchandise. Robert Miller, Crown chairman, noted that Cumello's "deep knowledge of the book business, his strong industry relationships and his vast retailing experience will help position the company for renewed growth."
Cumello, who was living in retirement in Florida, told PW he decided to take the Crown job "because I wanted to get back in the book business. It's a great business with great product and great people." The challenge of making Crown a viable chain again also appealed to him. "Crown has a lot of employees who stayed through the tough times and fought the good fight, and now I want to fight it with them," he added.
Cumello's first priority will be to upgrade Crown's existing stores. As part of that process, Cumello said the company "needs to rebuild our relationships with publishers and with our customers. Customers need to know that if we say we have a book in stock, the title will be there."
Another immediate task is to fill out Crown's senior management team. Cumello is looking for a general merchandise manager and a chief financial officer. The existing management group includes Steve Pate, v-p, operations; J Ewing, v-p, stores; Pat Grizzell, v-p, human resources, training and store support; and Susan Hanwood, v-p, information systems.
