Soles4Souls Adds Two Footwear Industry Veterans to Board

Soles4Souls, Inc., a not-for-profit social enterprise dedicated to advancing the fight against global poverty through the distribution of shoes and clothing, announced the addition of two nationally recognized footwear executives to its Board of Directors.

The two new Soles4Souls directors are:

Nancy Youssef, vice president, international for Nashville-based Genesco, Inc., a publicly-traded specialty retailer of brand-name footwear with more than 2,400 stores in the U.S. and around the world.  Ms. Youssef directs global business development and retail operations for a number of well-known brands, including Johnston & Murphy, Journeys and Lids.

Trevor Masson is director of key account sales for Boston-based New Balance Athletic Shoes, one of the nation's largest private companies with nearly $2.4 billion in annual revenues.  Mr. Masson is responsible for some 50 percent of New Balance's U.S. revenues, overseeing a number of sales and distribution channels including specialty shops, department stores and online retail sites.

With Youssef and Masson, the Soles4Souls board now comprises nine directors and has doubled in size since new CEO Buddy Teaster took the reins in October 2012, following the founder's departure that previous March.  Since then, Teaster, with his new executive management team and board, have worked to reposition Soles4Souls financially and operationally, earning the highest-possible four star rating from nonprofit watchdog group Charity Navigator.

Founded in 2006, Soles4Souls advances the fight against global poverty through social enterprise – a term describing companies and organizations that use proven business practices to create positive social change.  Each year, Soles4Souls collects millions of used and new shoes from volunteer shoe drives, civic groups, churches and schools, small businesses and big-brand companies. 

Most reusable shoes are distributed to micro-enterprise partners that create sustainable, desperately-needed jobs in Haiti and other developing nations.  Soles4Souls then uses that revenue to help fund free distribution of new shoes and clothing throughout the U.S. and overseas.

In the last fiscal year alone, Soles4Souls distributed almost two million pairs of used shoes and 1.9 million pairs of new shoes in North and Central America, Africa and the Caribbean.

"Over the last two years the Soles4Souls team has successfully navigated some very stormy water, but there's still much work to do," said Teaster.  "Having two trusted footwear industry leaders commit their experience and skills on our behalf accelerates our momentum to expand and make even stronger our contribution to the fight against global poverty.  We are truly honored to have Ms. Youssef and Mr. Masson join Soles4Souls."

By press release


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