Michael Appel joined Getzler Henrich as a managing director. He will be based in Getzler Henrich’s New York City office.
In this role, Appel will be a key contributor to Getzler Henrich’s national retail turnaround and restructuring practice. He will be a senior presence developing the business strategy, recruiting key executives and managing the practice.
As president of Appel Associates, a firm he founded in 1991, Appel has held leadership roles across various functions of retail and in multiple categories and channels — from off-price to luxury. He has served as CEO and/or COO as well as turnaround adviser for retailers such as Laura Ashley, Barney’s, Wilkes Bashford, Baccarat, Loehmann’s, MacKenzie-Childs and Kasper/Anne Klein, for which Appel won the Turnaround Management Association’s company turnaround of the year award.
Most recently, Appel 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 in September 2017 until February of 2020.
Appel has served on many corporate and non-profit boards including rue21, Loehmann’s, Mattress Discounters, Charming Shoppes (where has was chairman of the compensation committee) Barth and Dreyfuss, and The Laboratory Institute of Merchandising Fashion Education Foundation. He currently serves on the board of Ashley Stewart, 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 national board, and was chairman of the TMA awards committee. He is a past member of the Young President’s Organization.
