Saks President Marigay Mckee steps down

Saks Fifth Avenue president Marigay McKee will be departing the company after a mere 15 months. She will be replaced by Marc Metrick, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Saks parent company Hudson's Bay Company. Metrick was most recently HBC’s chief administrative officer and had previously spent 15 years at Saks, where he held merchandising and strategy roles and eventually became its chief strategy officer.

Mckee had worked her way up at Esteé Lauder and launched her career as a senior beauty buyer at Harrods in 1999 where she became chief merchant and had spent 13 years. She was brought on by Saks in late 2013 to revamp the department store chain.

With a proven track record she had bold plans to reinvigorate Saks but according to WWD, her management style was not in line with the retailer’s modus operandi. With McKee, “There was never a question of taste level or where she wanted to take the business. She is a very smart, talented lady,” said a source close to Saks. “Culture and fit were the challenge. They saw that almost from day one.”

The move appears to be something of a surprise. Since McKee was slated to give a talk at NYU next week titled “What It Means to Be President of Saks Fifth Avenue”.