Tiger Group named Elaine Hughes, Irene Marks, Michael P. Muldowney and Daniel R. Schwarzwalder as the first four members of its newly launched board of advisors, which provides advice and counsel but is not involved in Tiger’s day-to-day operations. The board held its inaugural meeting on Aug. 29.
“Elaine, Irene, Michael and Daniel are respected subject matter experts with an impressive breadth of experience in areas such as banking, retail, talent acquisition, corporate strategy and supply-chain logistics,” Dan Kane, cofounder and managing member of Tiger Group, said. “As we seize new opportunities in a time of rapid change, their counsel is already proving to be an invaluable resource.”
“Relationships are the heart of our business and company,” Michael McGrail, COO of Tiger, said. “A great many of Tiger Group’s most creative and productive initiatives have started with a simple conversation. Exposing our team to the advisory board members and their business contacts is just a tremendous opportunity for Tiger.”
Hughes, who founded E.A. Hughes & Company in 1991, has decades of experience as a strategy and executive recruiting consultant for retailers and consumer products companies. Earlier in her career, she gained extensive experience in the textile industry, through positions at Springs Industries, Malden Mills and Blue Ridge Winkler. A frequent source for national business media, Hughes serves on the board of the Charles F. Dolan School of Business of Fairfield University and is a three-term board member of Women in Management, where she initiated The WIM Scholarship Fund and the WIM Mentorship Program. Hughes serves on the advisory board for Broadcrest Asset Management and Spring Creative (the former Springs Mills) and is on the board of directors for The Wilson College of Textiles (part of NC State), Runway of Dreams in NYC and Turning Point, the largest facility in Union County housing women escaping domestic violence. She also served on the advisory board of the Global Fashion Management program at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s School of Graduate Studies and was a founding member of the New York Textile Group, formerly known as the New York Textile Board of Trade. A long-term member of Fashion Group, she also belonged to the American Apparel & Footwear Association.
Marks brings more than 35 years of banking experience, including 25 years working with retail and consumer products companies in roles in sales, underwriting, credit and relationship management. She recently retired as a managing director and head of consumer and retail corporate banking at Wells Fargo. Additionally, her past positions include leading retail finance originations for Wells Fargo Capital Finance. Over the course of her career, Marks has led diverse teams and managed a broad portfolio of clients—from healthy to distressed, and from startup to large cap and investment grade. She has been heavily involved in multiple M&A transactions, as well as management issues related to strategy-setting, compliance and regulatory reporting, recruiting and retention and DE&I.
Muldowney is founder and managing member of advisory firm Foxford Capital and managing member of Waterville Investment Partners. As senior managing director and CFO of Gordon Brothers Group from 2014 to 2018, he served on the four-person executive and investments committee, oversaw the appraisal division and worked with all business units on initiatives related to finance, corporate strategy, human capital, IT and facilities. Muldowney led the investment in the company by Stone Point Capital in April 2018. He serves on the board of Veritiv Corporation and is a board advisor to Botho Emerging Markets Group. Muldowney was EVP/CFO and interim CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (formerly Houghton Mifflin), where he led the company’s $4 billion acquisition of Harcourt as well as a $7.4 billion out-of-court restructuring. He ran and helped found Nextera Enterprises, and, earlier in his career, filled partner and/or executive roles at Oliver Wyman and Marsh & McLennan Companies.
Schwarzwalder is a retired senior managing director and senior partner, having spent more than twenty years at Buckingham Capital Management. Schwarzwalder was responsible for the consumer hedge fund specializing in the retail, apparel and footwear industry. He also brings to Tiger more than 26 years of retail industry experience. He was a senior merchant and member of management at Abraham & Straus, a division of Federated Department Stores. In addition, he served as president and CEO of Mothercare Stores and Chernin’s Shoes. He serves on the boards of the Retail Marketing Society and Wharton’s Jay H. Baker Retailing Center. In addition, he is a member of the executive board of The Weill Cornell Council of New York Presbyterian Hospital and on the national board of American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA).
“We’re looking for diversity of thought and experience based on board members’ varied careers and lifelong network relationships,” McGrail said. “For Tiger, this powerful brain trust is just another way for us to maximize our performance and pursue new opportunities in everything we do.”
