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According to an internal memo just sent out at online home decor site One King’s Lane, CEO Doug Mack is departing the company to become CEO of Fanatics, a sports site. The interim CEO will be Dinesh Lathi, who has been CFO and COO.
“Doug is pursuing his passion with sports,” said co-founder Ali Pincus about the move. “We are extremely confident in Dinesh to lead the company during this transition.”
Mack is succeeding founding CEO Alan Trager at Fanatics, the large retailer of sports merchandise.
Along with the Mack departure, there are several other executives leaving, including CMO Greg Fant; John Anderson, who is head of HR; and Sascha Jamall, VP of brand development. In other words, lots of big management changes at the well-funded startup.
It’s a dicey time to have this level of turmoil — the company just raised just over $112 million from Mousse Partners at a nearly $1 billion valuation. The total it has raised is close to $230 million, from investors like Scripps Networks Interactive, Kleiner Perkins, Institutional Venture Partners, Greylock Partners and Tiger Global Management.
For now, here’s the memo from its founders, Susan Feldman and Pincus:
From: Susan and Alison
Date: Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 1:55 PM
Subject: [SF Employees] [Employees] Today’s News
To: EmployeesHi Everyone,
As we just shared in the All-Hands meeting, today we are thanking, celebrating, and looking forward.
We’d like to say a big thank you to Doug. Doug joined us in June of 2010 when we were 15 months new. At that point in time, we were on a great trajectory with solid footing, and Doug partnered with us to scale this business to an unprecedented place. His business acumen, belief in the One Kings Lane brand and commitment to our future contributed enormously to get us where we are today. We wish Doug only the very best as he takes on his new venture.
Given the strong momentum and path that One Kings Lane is on, we are also celebrating. Today, we have 500+ enthusiastic OKL staff members — your expertise across every aspect of our business is the reason we have become one the most admired e-commerce brands in the country. Every day — in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco — we experience “OKL moments” that reveal our true company character: thousands of beautiful new products listed every single day across One Kings Lane and now Hunters Alley; a world-class creative team; above-and-beyond customer service; engineers that move the needle on business performance; creative solutions to accelerate growth; product improvements that excite our customers; and so much more!
We are looking forward with enthusiasm and optimism. The only thing more exciting than the past five years will be the next five. As much as we have achieved, there are so many remarkable opportunities ahead. Every day, we live the old adage: the only thing that’s constant is change.
We are thrilled that Dinesh will be stepping up to lead our company during this transition. You know Dinesh well — he’s been a critical senior leader here for quite some time. Since his arrival, Dinesh has shown incredible dedication, aptitude, devotion and passion. We, the Board, and the entire team are honored that Dinesh has been tirelessly and endlessly available to embrace any and all opportunities.
It was only five and a half years ago that the two of us first met at the Burbank airport to discuss starting One Kings Lane. Fast forward to this very moment: we remain passionate partners, we are extremely confident in One Kings Lane’s future and every day we’re blown away by the amazing and talented people at this very special company. We look forward to partnering with you on our journey to building the first major global lifestyle brand for the home.
Alison & Susan
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
