Vera Bradley's turnaround ran out: CEO and CFO out, Pura Vida sold at a loss

In June 2025, Vera Bradley announced that CEO Jacqueline Ardrey was exiting after about three years, that CFO Michael Schwindle would leave at month's end, and that former Coach international president Ian Bickley would take a newly created executive chairman role while ex-Bath & Body Works chief Andrew Meslow became lead independent director. Citing the executive changes and 'significant uncertainty surrounding the consumer environment', the company suspended its forward guidance and created a Strategy and Transformation committee.

The numbers behind the shake-up: first-quarter net revenue fell about 24% to $51.7 million, with net losses surging 312% to $33 million. Comparable sales dropped 25%, which the company attributed to traffic and conversion downturns across full-line and outlet stores. Ardrey's Project Restoration — launched to overhaul the business model and brand positioning — had not fixed the core complaint: consumers had given feedback on product styles and functionality from the previous summer's relaunch.

The clearest value destruction was Pura Vida Bracelets: Vera Bradley bought 75% of the DTC jewellery brand in 2019 for more than $75 million, took full ownership in 2023 for another $10 million, and sold it in March 2025 for an undisclosed amount. The company had already replaced one CFO in April 2023 and cut about 25 jobs in a corporate restructuring.

The summer 2024 relaunch missed on product styles and functionality — the core product problem was never solved.

Pura Vida went from a $75M bet to a $10M buyout to an undisclosed exit inside six years.

Leadership churn — two CFOs in three years, a CEO out, strategy delegated to a committee — signalled a board without a plan.

A heritage brand's turnaround needs the product to change, not just the leadership: shuffling executives while styles keep missing burns the runway.

Bickley and Meslow took charge of the new committee with a national CEO search underway; Ardrey stayed through the end of July to aid the transition, and Martin Layding, previously divisional CFO of Coach, succeeded Schwindle.