The Radoff-Jumana Group Releases Presentation Detailing How the Genesco Inc. Board of Directors Appears to Be Beholden to Chair, President, CEO and Interim CFO Mimi Vaughn
The Radoff-Jumana Group Releases Presentation Detailing How the Genesco Inc. Board of Directors Appears to Be Beholden to Chair, President, CEO and Interim CFO Mimi Vaughn
Highlights That Legacy Directors Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and Joanna Barsh Have Served for 13 and 14 Years, Respectively, During Which Time They’ve Overseen -50% TSR and Faced Three Activist Campaigns
Criticizes the Board’s Decision to Hire a Permanent CFO from a Financially Distressed Microcap Company That Has Seen its Share Price Decline by More Than 95%
Urges Shareholders to Elect Westervelt T. Ballard, Jr., a Former Public Company CEO, and Paula J. Poskon, an Experienced Public Company Director, to Genesco’s Board to Introduce Accountability
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bradley L. Radoff, Jumana Capital Investments LLC and Christopher R. Martin (collectively, the “Radoff-Jumana Group” or “we”), who collectively own approximately 8.7% of the outstanding shares of Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO) (“Genesco” or the “Company”), today released a presentation detailing why it believes that shareholders should remove legacy over-tenured directors Thurgood Marshall, Jr. and Joanna Barsh from the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”).
Key points from the presentation include:
- Mr. Marshall has served on Genesco’s Board since 2012 and overseen a -53.4% total shareholder return while receiving nearly $2.5 million in compensation.1 He has only ever purchased 3,600 shares of Genesco common stock on a single day in July 2012,2 lacks retail or consumer experience and spent his career as a lawyer and lobbyist at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, a firm Genesco paid for services for many years.3
- Ms. Barsh is an ex-McKinsey consultant who has served on Genesco’s Board since 2013 and presided over a -50.2% total shareholder return.4 She has never purchased a single share of Genesco common stock,5 and as Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee, we believe she is responsible for failing to recruit value-additive directors and for rejecting our nominees merely one day after conducting what appeared to be pretextual interviews with them.
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Mr. Marshall and Ms. Barsh have allowed Ms. Vaughn to simultaneously serve as Board Chair, President, CEO and Interim CFO, leading to significant underperformance and zero accountability. The over-tenured directors were completely dismissive of our attempts to avoid a proxy contest and did not appear to meaningfully consider any of our suggestions to improve shareholder value, including refreshing the Board, separating the Chair and CEO roles, increasing share repurchases, exploring a sale lease-back and evaluating divestitures of certain non-core businesses.
- We would have expected that a Company that has been the recipient of an activist challenge three times in eight years would view that fact as a clear negative reflection of its performance and governance, and would want to take steps to remedy its issues.
- We believe that Genesco’s recent decision to hire a CFO from America’s Car-Mart, Inc., a microcap company that is under serious financial stress and has seen its share price decline by 95.07% during his tenure, is the latest example of a Board not acting in its shareholders’ best interests.6
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Our nominees – Westervelt T. Ballard, Jr. and Paula J. Poskon – are independent, experienced public company executives and directors who would bring the requisite operating, corporate governance, capital allocation and real estate expertise that we believe is required to unlock value at Genesco.
- Mr. Ballard is an investor in the public and private markets and the former President, CEO and member of the board of directors of Stabilis Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLNG), equipping him with extensive leadership experience in global operations, capital allocation, strategic development and finance.
- Ms. Poskon brings nearly 25 years of capital markets experience in equity research and investment banking from her time at D.A. Davidson & Co., Inc., Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc. and Lehman Brothers, as well as significant experience on the boards of directors of companies like Cedar Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: CDRpB and CDRpC) and Power REIT (NYSE: PW).
Vote FOR the Radoff-Jumana Group’s Nominees – Westervelt T. Ballard, Jr. and Paula J. Poskon – Today to Hold the Legacy Board Accountable for Years of Value Destruction and Send a Clear Signal for Change
Do NOT Vote for Thurgood Marshall, Jr. or Joanna Barsh
Questions about how to vote? Contact (888) 368-0379 or info@saratogaproxy.com
Visit www.saratogaproxy.com/Genesco to learn more
1 |
Company proxy statements. FactSet; total shareholder return calculated as of market close on April 14, 2026, the trading day immediately prior to the Radoff-Jumana Group’s public Schedule 13D filing with respect to the Company. |
2 |
Mr. Marshall’s Form 4 filings. |
3 |
Company filings. |
4 |
Company proxy statements. FactSet; total shareholder return calculated as of market close on April 14, 2026, the trading day immediately prior to the Radoff-Jumana Group’s public Schedule 13D filing with respect to the Company. |
5 |
Ms. Barsh’s Form 4 filings. |
6 |
Company press release dated June 29, 2026. FactSet; share price decline calculated as of June 26, 2026. |
Contacts
Greg Lempel
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or
Saratoga Proxy Consulting LLC
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