Meet Michael Appel, a seasoned senior executive with over 50 years of experience in the retail industry, including turnaround CEO at Rue21.  As the Managing Director at New York-based Getzler Henrich & Associates, he leads the Retail Practice for the firm, specializing in operational turnarounds for retail businesses.   We talk about the state of retail today, the role of social media and the China Factory Direct model, what has actually changed with the modern consumer and what has stayed the same, what it takes to compete in 2024 and beyond, and what it takes to come back from the brink and creative a positive forward momentum.  Let's listen in now.

You can reach Michael at C: 917-789-3615

mappel@getzlerhenrich.com

Michael Appel is a Managing Director at Getzler Henrich & Associates, based in New York City. Michael leads the Retail Practice for the firm.

Michael has expertise in women’s apparel, accessories, menswear, childrenswear, and all categories of home furnishings across department stores, specialty stores, luxury, off-price, and direct response channels of distribution. Michael graduated from Brandeis University (Phi Beta Kappa) and has an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. Over the years, he has served on multiple corporate and non-profit boards, including serving as the Chairman of the Compensation Committee for Charming Shoppes, and as Chairman at Loehmann’s.

Select experiences include:

• Served as CEO and Chairman of rue21, the 700-unit omnichannel fast-fashion retailer, where he led the company’s successful turnaround from its emergence from Chapter 11 between 2017 and 2020.
• Served as the Interim CEO for Laura Ashley, Wilkes Bashford, and Baccarat. Additionally, he has provided turnaround services for Kenneth Cole, Avery Boardman, Versa Partners, and DW Partners
• Served as Financial Advisor to the Creditor’s Committee of Kasper ASL, a leading manufacturer of women’s apparel under the Kasper and Anne Klein brands. For his work on Kasper, the Turnaround Management Association awarded Michael its Large Company Turnaround of the Year Award
• Provided strategic advisory, due diligence, and expert witness consulting services to retailers, financial institutions, law firms, and consumer product companies.
• Was retained at HCI Direct as CRO to oversee the company’s prepackaged Chapter 11 proceedings and the successful implementation of its restructuring plan. With the departure of HCI Direct’s CEO, he was named Interim CEO, successfully managing the business, achieving planned goals, introducing a new product line, and recruiting a new CEO.

Currently, Michael serves on the Board of Ashley Stewart, Inc., the Advisory Board of FIT’s Global Fashion Management MBA program and is a member of The Fashion Group and the Turnaround Management Association, where he served on their National Board, and was Chairman of the TMA Awards Committee.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.