Bath & Body Works Names Daniel Heaf CEO

Bath & Body Works has appointed Daniel Heaf as chief executive officer, effective immediately, taking over from Gina Boswell.

Most recently, he was Nike’s chief strategy and transformation officer and prior to that held the title of head of Nike Direct. Before Nike, Heaf served as senior vice president of digital, digital marketing, customer service and data at Burberry.

Sarah Nash, chair of the board, said: “Daniel is a forward-thinking leader with a remarkable track record of driving innovative, transformative growth across iconic global brands. He brings bold and direct leadership which energizes and inspires teams to rally behind him. His vision for evolving Bath & Body Works to be highly coveted, relevant and resonant for customers everywhere — combined with his consumer-first mindset — make him the right person to lead Bath & Body Works.”

“Bath & Body Works has extraordinary untapped potential and sits at an exciting inflection point,” added Heaf. “Together, with the foundation of an iconic brand, more than 50,000 associates, tens of millions of active loyalty members and a strong North American store footprint and supply chain, we have an opportunity to become the defining home fragrance and beauty brand of choice globally. I look forward to working closely with the board, the leadership team and our associates to build on the company’s fragrance leadership and accelerate growth.”

In March, Boswell announced a temporary absence to undergo a scheduled surgery, which was expected to last several weeks. The company said Monday she has stepped down from her role as CEO and a member of the Bath & Body Works Board, effective immediately.

“On behalf of the board, I want to thank Gina for her contributions to Bath & Body Works. In the post-COVID-normalization period she was able to stabilize the business and return it to profitable revenue growth,” Nash said.

In connection with the CEO switch, Bath & Body Works pre-announced its preliminary first-quarter net sales and earnings per diluted share results. For the first quarter ended May 3, net sales were $1.42 billion, an increase of 3 percent compared to the prior year, but a touch below Wall Street forecasts. Earnings per diluted share were $0.49, up from $0.38 last year. Analysts had penciled in $0.42.