Zeena Freeman, who was to become Black Diamond's chief executive this month, has resigned as the company's president and stepped down from its board of directors after it indicated earlier this year that it was studying a potential sale of its three remaining brands. This came after the lucrative sale of Gregory Mountain Equipment last June.
A former Sony and Gap executive, Freeman signed an employment deal last August and was meant to replace Peter Metcalf as the company's chief executive by the end of June. However, that proposition apparently became less relevant once the company announced in March that it had retained two advisory firms to study a full scale of strategic alternatives for each of its brands.
The group added in May that these alternatives included two separate transactions for the sale of Black Diamond (including the Pieps brand) and the Poc brand. The group then said it had received indications of interest for each of the brands and the results of the strategic review would be known in the third quarter.
Metcalf resigned from the board of directors on May 29, just a few days before Freeman's resignation on June 3. Metcalf remains Black Diamond's chief executive and he is to take on the president's tasks, but he resigned from the board to comply with the Nasdaq stock market rules that a listed company's board should have a majority of independent directors.
Black Diamond said Freeman was to receive payments and benefits set forth in her employment agreement as if the termination was due to a change in control of the company.
