Zappos has officially decided to make 14-year company veteran Scott Schaefer’s role as interim CEO a permanent position.
Schaefer initially took over the interim role at the Amazon-owned company in December 2021 following the resignation of Kedar Deshpande after a little over a year on the job. Deshpande had taken over from late chief executive Tony Hsieh, a larger-than-life personality who drove the company’s culture and retired in August 2020 after 21 years in the top spot.
Prior to stepping up as interim CEO, Schaefer was the online shoe retailer’s VP of Finance and had held various financial, operational, and strategic positions within the company. Before joining Zappos in 2008, Schaefer held finance-related roles at Davenport Wealth Management and EY.
Schaefer’s responsibilities as CEO are no different from what he has been doing since December. He has already implemented his own leadership based on the 1,400 employee company’s customer service-centric culture.
"I am thrilled and honored to continue my journey at Zappos as Chief Executive Officer," Schaefer said in an official statement. "My genuine passion for and deep understanding of our business allows me to get a quick start in creating an unmatched experience for our brand partners, surprising and delighting our customers, continuing our long history of leading compassionately and, as a financier at heart, strengthening our business's financial position."
Zappos has been looking to reinvent itself as part of the broader e-commerce industry and appeal to a wider audience. In 2021 the company partnered with Abercrombie & Fitch to sell the retailer’s clothing on the Zappos website. More recently Zappos struck a deal with Sorel Footwear to launch three signature styles for Zappos Adaptive, the company’s platform to highlight clothing made for disabled customers, which launched in 2020.
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