President and Chief Executive Officer
Mimi E. Vaughn became Genesco’s president and chief executive officer, effective February 2020. In addition, she was elected to Genesco’s board of directors, effective October 30, 2019. Vaughn becomes the 12th president and chief executive officer of the Company.
She was named Genesco’s chief operating officer in January 2018 and assumed the role in June 2019 following the appointment of the Company’s new chief financial officer. Vaughn served as senior vice president, finance and chief financial officer from February 2015 to June 2019, where she led all finance-related activities, including financial planning, reporting and analysis, accounting, treasury and tax functions.
Vaughn joined Genesco as vice president – strategy and business development in 2003, was promoted to senior vice president – strategy and business development in 2006, and was named senior vice president – strategy and shared services in 2009. In this role, she was responsible for strategy development for the Company and for growth initiatives and acquisitions. She also led shared services, including information technology, corporate logistics and human resources.
Prior to joining the Company in 2003, Vaughn was executive vice president of business development and marketing and acting chief financial officer for Link2Gov Corp. in Nashville.
From 1993 to 1999, she was a consultant with McKinsey & Company, based in Atlanta. During her tenure at McKinsey, Vaughn advised senior executives and board members, specializing in the consumer and retail sectors. Before joining McKinsey, she held various corporate finance positions at Goldman, Sachs & Co., Wasserstein Perella & Co. Inc. and Drexel Burnham Lambert.
An elected member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Alpha Theta, she received a bachelor of science degree in foreign service and international economics from Georgetown University magna cum laude and earned a master of business administration degree from Harvard Business School where she graduated with distinction. Vaughn serves as a director on the board of the University School of Nashville and previously served on the board of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.