The chief executive officer of DGB Investment Inc., which led a proxy fight at Ethan Allen Interiors Inc., is now heading up the board of the interior design and furniture manufacturer and this week named an interim CEO.
Douglas Bergeron, CEO of DGB, an investment and technology holding firm based in Atherton and Palo Alto, Calif., is now the executive chairman of Ethan Allen’s Board of Directors following its 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on Nov. 4, while Stefanie Tsen Ward, a former Neiman Marcus Group executive, has been appointed as interim CEO of Ethan Allen and board chair.
“Today marks Day One of our 100 day plan,” Bergeron said Tuesday. “Every one of our new directors are working on the ground in Danbury [Conn.] rolling up their sleeves with management to identify early wins we can actualize now.
“This week we also are visiting our manufacturing facilities in Vermont, Virginia, and North Carolina to meet the people who make our products great,” he added.
Following a contested proxy vote Nov. 4 against DGB Investment, Ethan Allen shareholders elected three DGB-backed nominees — Bergeron, Kristine E. Miller, and Stephen Oblak — and two company-recommended nominees, Maria Eugenia Casar and Tara Stacom to the board of directors. Miller has been named lead independent director. Casar and Stacom have served on the board since 2022 and 2015, respectively.
On Nov. 9, the board also appointed Ward, Anna Brockway, Lindsay O’Reilly, and Adam Treanor as directors.
At Neiman Marcus, Ward led the $4.5 billion retailer’s transformation into a more profitable, customer-led omnichannel enterprise, overseeing roughly 70 percent of total company revenue, more than 40 stores and 6,000 associates.
She will oversee Ethan Allen’s day-to-day operations and begin executing a strategic reset while the board searches for a permanent CEO.
“I am energized by the conversations already underway and to work alongside designers across our network of design centers and our HQ team to bring fresh ideas to life,” said Ward. “Together we will build a culture of openness, collaboration, and accountability, moving with the speed and urgency needed to drive Ethan Allen forward.”
Effective immediately, Ward replaces Farooq Kathwari, Ethan Allen’s president since 1985 and chairman and CEO since 1988.
Bergeron, who owns 5 percent of Ethan Allen’s stock, in August chastised management at the furniture retailer and nominated six candidates to replace the entire board, including Kathwari. Then in September, Ethan Allen launched a CEO search.
But now, Bergeron has succeeded in getting three of his five board nominees elected, with Kathwari failing to get reelected, and he now leads the board himself.
Ethan Allen said its new board brings together executives experienced in retail, brand revitalization, digital and omnichannel execution, home furnishings, financial oversight, and public company governance.
DGB Investment’s Bergeron, for example, is former chairman and CEO of VeriFone Systems Inc. and former chairman of Cantaloupe Inc.
Miller is a former chief strategy officer of eBay Inc. and a 24-year veteran of Bain & Company, where she led the firm’s North American retail practice.
In addition to her role at Neiman Marcus, Ward was also a senior leader at Sephora and Louis Vuitton.
Brockway is co-founder and former president of Chairish and former vice president of worldwide marketing at Levi Strauss & Co.; Oblak is a former chief commercial officer of Wayfair Inc.; O’Reilly formerly was group chief internal auditor, group chief data officer, and group COO for Risk and Finance at Barclays PLC; and Treanor is a managing partner of Stone Bay Capital.
“More than 250 years ago, the man whose name this company carries wrote of a spring morning at Fort Ticonderoga: ‘The sun seemed to rise that morning with a superior lustre,’” said Bergeron. “For the employees, customers, and shareholders of Ethan Allen, a new day begins.”