This must make Ralph Lauren feel old.
The New York fashion tycoon’s most trusted exec is retiring — despite the fact that he’s 13 years younger than Lauren himself.
Executive vice chairman Roger Farah, 61, is leaving the board of the successful clothing empire at the end of this month — leaving 74-year-old Lauren with intensifying questions about who will eventually succeed him.
“I am confident that the leadership team, under Ralph’s guidance and vision, is well prepared to execute the next phase of the company’s development,” Farah, who has been at Ralph Lauren for 14 years, said in a statement.
With Farah gone, Lauren is left with a suite of top execs that includes President Jacki Nemerov, administrative chief Chris Peterson and Valerie Hermann, president of luxury collections.
There has long been speculation whether the designer’s 42-year-old son, David, who heads up the company’s marketing, might eventually succeed his father.
Peterson, a former Procter & Gamble exec who joined the company in 2012, is seen as a rising star likely to take on greater responsibility in the coming years, insiders said.
The team will have its hands full, as Ralph Lauren on Friday warned that sales could miss Wall Street’s expectations this year. For the current quarter, the brand said it expects sales to grow between 3 and 5 percent — well short of the 10-percent growth analysts were assuming.
Ralph Lauren shares, which have stalled in recent months after a multi-year rally that had defied the recession, lost 2.1 percent Friday to close at $148.81.