The Container Store - Corporate Governance

Lisa Klinger , Chairperson

Lisa Klinger was appointed as a director to the Board of Directors in March 2022. Klinger most recently served as the Chief Administrative and Financial Officer for Ideal Image Development Corp., an L Catterton portfolio company and the largest U.S. retail provider of nonsurgical cosmetic procedures. Before Ideal Image, she served as Chief Administrative and Financial Officer for Peloton Interactive, Inc. Klinger's previous Chief Financial Officer roles include Vince Holding Corp. and The Fresh Market, Inc. At both companies, Lisa led go-public processes and subsequently served on the Executive Leadership team of the public entities. Klinger's career in retail began in 2000 at Limited Brands and continued at Michael’s Stores where she had various senior finance leadership roles including Treasurer, Investor Relations, and Acting Chief Financial Officer. Lisa holds a B.S.B.A. in Finance from Bowling Green State University. She currently serves on the Board of Directors and as Audit Committee Chair of both Emerald Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EEX), a leading U.S. business-to-business platform producer of trade shows, events, conferences, marketing, and B2B software solutions, since 2018, and Tremor International Ltd. (AIM/NASDAQ: TRMR), a global leader in Video and Connected TV advertising offering an end-to-end technology platform to advertisers, since 2021. Lisa also served on the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of Party City Holdco, Inc. (NYSE: PRTY), a vertically integrated party goods supplier and retailer from 2015 to 2021.

Satish Malhotra , Chief Executive Officer & President

A seasoned retail executive with decades of diverse experience, Satish Malhotra joined The Container Store in February 2021 as Chief Executive Officer and President.

As CEO and President, Satish has outlined a vision to double The Container Store’s sales, a “Path to $2 Billion,” and led the company through its articulation of a new brand purpose and branding campaign. In his first two years, Satish has overseen the launch of the Organized Insider loyalty program and The Container Store App, the opening of its first 3 small-format stores, significant investment in eCommerce improvements, a renewed focus on the customer experience, key additions to The Container Store leadership team, and the release of the company’s first-ever sustainability report. The company has also raised its minimum wage to $15/hour, and Satish Malhotra has added his name to the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge.

During Satish’s tenure, The Container Store has been recognized as a 2023 Forbes Customer Experience All Star, and its App has reached a 4.7 App Store rating, ranking within the top 200 apps in shopping. In 2022, The Container Store’s branding campaign won Grand Prize and Strategy of the Year in the PR Daily Content Marketing Awards and Best Use of TikTok in Digiday’s Content Marketing Awards.

In 2022, Satish led The Container Store through its ClosetWorks acquisition and the launch of its Custom Spaces brand architecture, studios and newest premium, wood-based custom line, Preston – developments that enable The Container Store to transform lives through the power of organization throughout the home – and a key component of the Path to $2 Billion.

For the previous 21 years, Satish held various leadership roles at prestige beauty retailer Sephora Americas, most recently as Chief Retail Officer and Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Satish was responsible for leading Sephora’s retail growth by expanding its in-store services and experiences, developing digitally enabled solutions and by growing its off-mall store locations.

Prior to that role, Satish served as Chief Operating Officer and was responsible for Technology, Supply Chain, Store Development, Legal, Strategy and Partnerships, including the Sephora inside JCPenney (SiJCP) business, which now operates in over 600 stores. He also spent several years overseeing Sephora’s expansion into Canada and Latin America.

Before joining Sephora, Satish was a Transaction Services Senior Associate at PwC. He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive).

Throughout his career, Satish has excelled at developing and growing new sales channels, solving complex “back of the house” problems with innovative solutions, and attracting and developing high performing talent. Among his many career highlights: transforming Sephora’s IT department to a Center of Excellence within parent company LVMH, launching all of Sephora’s digital commerce properties (including website, mobile, social and CRM), strengthening Sephora’s supply chain to enable 98% of online orders to be received by consumers within two business days, developing an off-mall store concept which dramatically improved Sephora’s accessibility to its consumers, and led the efforts in creating Sephora’s purpose of “inspiring fearlessness”.

In 2020, he was presented with the Innovation Leadership Award from the World Retail Forum.

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Walter A. Haas School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Satish has also completed the LVMH Inspiring Entrepreneurs Senior Executive Leadership Program.

Malhotra currently resides in Flower Mound, Texas, with his wife, two children and their Coton du Tulear.

Caryl Stern , Board Member

Caryl Stern was appointed to the Board of Directors in October 2014. Ms. Stern was appointed Executive Director of the Walton Family Foundation in December 2019. Prior to that, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, a child welfare organization, from June 2007 to December 2019. Ms. Stern has three decades of non-profit and education experience including serving as the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Associate National Director of the Anti-Defamation League; the founding Director of ADL’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Institute; and the Dean of Students at Polytechnic University. She has served on numerous non-profit Boards including the United Nations International School, Mercy College, and the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation. Currently, she serves on the Board of the WE ARE FAMILY Foundation. Stern is the author of I BELIEVE IN ZERO: Learning from the World’s Children. Ms. Stern was selected to our Board because of her global business perspective and her organizational leadership, operational and financial expertise.

Kris Galashan , Board Member

Kristofer Galashan has served on our Board of Directors since August 2007. Mr. Galashan is currently a Partner with LGP, a private equity firm, which he joined in 2002. Prior to joining LGP he had been in the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse First Boston (“CSFB”) in Los Angeles which he joined in 2000 following CSFB’s acquisition of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (“DLJ”). Mr. Galashan had been with DLJ since 1999. Mr. Galashan serves on the board of Union Square Hospitality Group Acquisition Corp., and of private companies Union Square Hospitality Group, LLC, Shade Store, Mister Car Wash, Life Time Fitness, Troon Golf and Pure Gym. Mr. Galashan previously served on the Board of Directors of BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. and Tourneau. Mr. Galashan was selected to our Board of Directors because he possesses particular knowledge and experience in accounting, finance and capital structure, strategic planning and leadership of complex organizations, retail businesses and board practices of other major corporations.

Anthony Laday , Board Member

Since 2014, Mr. Laday has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Fogo de Chão, where he leads the Accounting, Finance, IT and Supply Chain functions. In 2015, Mr. Laday was instrumental in the successful completion of Fogo de Chão’ s initial public offering on Nasdaq. He also helped navigate a go-private transaction in April 2018 when Rhône Capital acquired Fogo de Chão in an all-cash transaction valued at $650 million. Mr. Laday has held finance roles of increasing responsibility for a number of prominent brands prior to Fogo de Chão including Brinker International, FedEx Office, and American Airlines. In his last position at Brinker International as Vice President of International, Investor Relations, and Corporate Treasurer, Mr. Laday was instrumental in doubling the size of Brinker’s Internal Division, securing $250 million in public debt, and developing strategies to significantly improve operating margins. Mr. Laday received his BBA and MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Nicole Otto , Board Member

Nicole Otto serves as the Global Brand President of The North Face since June 2022. She previously served as VP of Nike Direct North America from 2018 through May 2021. In this role, Ms. Otto oversaw Nike’s integrated physical and digital ecosystem to deliver seamless shopping journeys, online-to-offline services and experiences, and deep connections with Nike consumers throughout the United States and Canada. Throughout her career at Nike, Ms. Otto played a central role in building and leading high-performing teams and defining pinnacle mono-brand retail experiences. Before joining the North America team, Ms. Otto held several leadership roles at Nike within the digital business, both overseas and on Nike’s global team. These roles included serving as VP/GM of Digital Commerce in Europe, VP/GM of Nike.com Global Store, VP of Global Digital Commerce Operations and VP of Consumer Digital Tech. Among many other tasks, Ms. Otto expanded consumer access to Nike.com to more than 51 countries. Ms. Otto began her career at Nike in 2005 after working in Information Technology at Charles Schwab in San Francisco. She earned an MBA from St. Mary’s College of California and an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Iowa.

Wendi Sturgis , Board Member

Wendi Sturgis has served on our Board of Directors since August 2019. Ms. Sturgis currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of cleverbridge, Inc., a global billing solution provider for digital goods and services. Previously, Ms. Sturgis served as Chief Revenue Officer and then President of Lyte, Inc. from January 2021 to November 2021. Ms. Sturgis served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Yext, Europe at Yext, Inc., a New York based technology company operating in the area of on-line brand management, a position that she held from April 2019 to January 2021. Ms. Sturgis joined Yext in 2011, and held a variety of executive roles, including Executive Vice President of Sales and Services from August 2011 to December 2016 and Chief Client Officer from December 2016 to August 2019. Ms. Sturgis previously ran the North America Account Management team at Yahoo! Inc., where she was responsible for an 800-person organization and $1.4 billion in revenue. She has also held executive positions at Price Waterhouse, Oracle, Scient, Gartner and Right Media, and served as a director of Student Transportation of America, where she gained experience in cybersecurity leading the company’s annual cybersecurity risk review. Ms. Sturgis also serves on the board of directors of Sabre Corporation and of private company, Kustomer, Inc. She is also on the board of the Georgia Tech Foundation. Ms. Sturgis was selected to our Board of Directors because of her leadership experience in the technology, digital transformation and marketing fields.