HSN, Inc. Appoints Felise Glantz Kissell Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Strategy
St. Petersburg, FL, November 13, 2008 — Interactive multichannel retailer HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSNI) announced today that Felise Glantz Kissell has been appointed Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Strategy for the Company, effective immediately. Ms. Kissell has more than 15 years of investor relations and capital markets expertise, in addition to having spearheaded numerous strategic initiatives to drive shareholder value. Ms. Kissell will report directly to Judy Schmeling, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of HSNi.
As Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Strategy, a newly created position, Ms. Kissell will be responsible for developing and managing the Company’s investor relations function which will include all communication with the Wall Street community. Additionally, Ms. Kissell will work with the HSNi executive team in evaluating, recommending and executing identified strategic growth initiatives to complement the Company’s existing growth-driving actions.
In making the announcement, Ms. Schmeling said, "HSNi appreciates the importance of appropriately communicating with the investment community as a stand-alone public company following the spin-off from IAC in August 2008. With this sensitivity, we sought an executive who not only has a strong working knowledge of the financial markets but also of the retail industry. Felise has been immersed in investor relations and corporate development strategy, making her uniquely qualified to build this function for HSNi."
Most recently, Ms. Kissell was Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development for Maidenform Brands, Inc., where she joined in 2005. Among her responsibilities there was the development and execution of the company’s award-winning Wall Street communications, in addition to assisting the company in identifying and prioritizing specific sales growth opportunities.
From 2002 to 2005, Ms. Kissell was Vice President, Investor Relations and Finance for AFC Enterprises, an Atlanta-based corporation that owned and franchised a number of restaurant brands during that period. In 2002, Ms. Kissell also was an Adjunct Professor at the Management Institute School of Continuing and Professional Studies at New York University where she developed a course on capital markets and influences on investor relations.
Previously, Ms. Kissell had spent two years with Thomson Financial where she served as a Senior Advisor in their Strategic Investor Relations Global Consulting practice and, among other achievements, developed a new business unit within the consulting practice working directly with the venture capital and private equity communities. Ms. Kissell began here career with The Carson Group, a capital markets services firm for which she served as Managing Director and Partner during her eight-year tenure.
Ms. Kissell received her bachelor’s degree from Colby College in 1991 which included a special grant to study at the Gustav Mahler Society in Vienna, Austria. She also received her Executive MBA from Fordham University in 2001. Ms. Kissell is on the Board of the National Investor Relations Institute’s (NIRI) New York Chapter.
About HSN, Inc.
HSN, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSNI) is a $3 billion interactive multi-channel retailer with strong direct-to- consumer expertise among its two operating segments, HSN and Cornerstone Brands. HSN, Inc. offers innovative, differentiated retail experiences on TV, online, in catalogs, and in brick and mortar stores. HSN, Inc. ships 50 million products and handles 50 million inbound customer calls annually. HSN, which created the television retail industry 31 years ago, now reaches 90 million homes (24 hours a day, seven days a week, live 364 days a year). HSN.com ranks in the top 30 of the top 500 internet retailers, is one of the top 10 trafficked e-commerce sites, and has more than a quarter million unique users every day. In addition to its existing media platforms, HSN is the industry leader in technological innovation including services such as Shop by Remote, the only service of its kind in the U.S., and Video on Demand. Cornerstone Brands comprises leading home and apparel lifestyle brands including Ballard Design, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Grandin Road, Improvements, Smith+Noble, The Territory Ahead, and Travelsmith. Cornerstone Brands distributes 400 million catalogs annually, operates seven separate e-commerce sites, and runs 25 retail stores.