Executive Leadership

Ms. Vaughn joined the Company in September 2003 as vice president of strategy and business development. She was named senior vice president, strategy and business development in October 2006, senior vice president of strategy and shared services in April 2009 and senior vice president – finance and chief financial officer in February 2015. In May 2019, Ms. Vaughn was named senior vice president and chief operating officer and continued to serve as senior vice president-finance and chief financial officer until her successor was appointed in June 2019. In October 2019, Ms. Vaughn was appointed to become president and chief executive officer of the Company on February 2, 2020 and was appointed as a director effective October 30, 2019. In September 2023, she was appointed as an independent director at Five Below, Inc. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Vaughn was executive vice president of business development and marketing, and acting chief financial officer from 2000 to 2001, for Link2Gov Corporation in Nashville. From 1993 to 1999, she was a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Atlanta.

Brent Baxter was named as Genesco’s new vice president, chief accounting officer in October 2019, joining the Company with 30 years of accounting and financial leadership experience, mostly with publicly-held companies and public accounting firms.

Since 2017, he served as group vice president, controller and principal accounting officer for Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. Prior to that he was senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer for Stein Mart from 2014 to 2016; vice president accounting, treasury and corporate controller for PetSmart from 2006 to 2014; and vice president and controller for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store from 2003 to 2006. Baxter began his career as an auditor with KPMG LLP from 1989 to 2003.

He received a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee and a master of accountancy degree with an audit concentration also from the University of Tennessee. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

Scott E. Becker was named Genesco's senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary in October 2019.

Becker joined Genesco from Nissan Group of North America and Latin America, where from 2006 to 2019 he served in a variety of roles with increasing responsibility. From 2009 to 2019, he was senior vice president with responsibilities for Nissan's legal, government affairs, finance, strategy and administration. During that time he served on the executive management committee and as member of the boards of directors of Nissan North America, Inc., Nissan Motor Acceptance Corporation ("NMAC"), Nissan Canada, Inc., and Nissan do Brasil. Becker's responsibilities included oversight for all legal affairs and government relations for Nissan in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America. In addition, he served as lead administrative and financial officer for the region. From 2006 to 2009, he served as Nissan's general counsel, corporate secretary and vice president, legal and government affairs.

Becker joined Nissan from Sears Holdings Corporation where he served in various legal roles from 2000 to 2006, including senior counsel, commercial litigation; assistant general counsel, litigation; associate general counsel, litigation; and vice president and deputy general counsel, retail operations, real estate and services. He was chief attorney for Sears and Kmart's full line, specialty, dealer and hardware stores, Sears Auto Centers, Sears's consumer credit business, Sears's home services businesses and its commercial real estate department. Prior to joining Sears, Becker was an attorney with the firms D'Ancona & Pflaum, LLC; Rosenthal and Schanfield, PC; and Sanchez & Daniels.

An active member of the community, Becker serves as a director on several Middle Tennessee non-profit agency boards, including: the United Way of Greater Nashville, Nashville Public Television, Leadership Nashville, and is a member of the board of visitors for the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University.

Becker received his undergraduate degree in political science, with honors, from the University of Chicago, and earned a juris doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Parag Desai was named Genesco’s senior vice president chief strategy and digital officer in April 2021. He previously served as senior vice president, strategy and shared services since December 2014. Desai brings to the Company several decades of experience developing strategies for businesses given changes in consumer behavior, channels and technology. He spent 14 years with McKinsey & Company, including seven years as a partner, where he was part of the firm’s global retail leadership team and a core member of the consumer practice both in the Americas and in Australia. In addition, Desai held business development and technology positions at Outpace Systems and Booz Allen & Hamilton.

He received his bachelor of business administration degree from George Washington University, summa cum laude, and a master of business administration degree from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, where he graduated as a Tuck Scholar.

Danny Ewoldsen was named president of the Johnston & Murphy Group in January 2019 responsible for both the Johnston & Murphy wholesale and retail operations . He had served as president of Johnston & Murphy since February 2018. Ewoldsen was appointed a senior vice president of Genesco Inc. in June 2019.

A 16-year Johnston & Murphy veteran, Ewoldsen joined Johnston & Murphy as vice president store operations in 2003 and was later promoted to vice president store and consumer sales in 2006. He was named executive vice president, Johnston & Murphy Retail and eCommerce in 2013.

Prior to joining Genesco, Ewoldsen was with Wilsons Leather from 1996 to 2002 serving in roles with increasing responsibilities, including vice president of stores for the El Portal division.

Tom George was named senior vice president – finance and chief financial officer effective October 20, 2021. He brings significant leadership experience to the chief financial officer role having served nine years as chief financial officer of global footwear company, Deckers Brands, where, during his tenure, the company doubled its revenue and increased its market capitalization fourfold. Earlier in his career, he was chief financial officer of Oakley, the global eyewear brand and served in the same capacity at companies in the technology and medical device industries.

George graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor of science in business administration and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Andy Gray became president of The Journeys Group on January 3, 2024.  A seasoned global consumer product executive, he brings to the company deep footwear and retail industry expertise, along with a passion for leading youth-focused consumer businesses.

A visionary leader with extensive experience in athletic and fashion footwear, his leadership strengths span a multi-dimensional skill set including merchandising, general management, retail and digital, brand building and global leadership – abilities that strongly complement the Journeys team and culture.

He joins Genesco most recently from Foot Locker where, before departing in January 2023, he served for more than 20 years in successive leadership roles ranging from Head Merchandiser, Foot Locker Europe; Buying Director/Senior Buyer – Footwear, to GM, North America for Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, and Chief Merchandising Officer- North America, among other positions. Most recently he was EVP, Global President of Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs and Sidestep, and EVP, Global Chief Commercial Officer.

As global president, Andy was responsible for Foot Locker's largest global brand portfolio, including oversight of P&L, brand building, business innovation and all product functions. He championed a commercial offense to reach more consumers across core categories, refocused teams on the biggest brands and high ROI-potential regions and repositioned the portfolio to evolve and elevate Foot Locker globally, while accelerating digital commerce and expanding Kids Foot Locker in North America, among other strategic initiatives.

A native of Scotland, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in business from Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow, Scotland.

Matt Johnson was named treasurer in April 2011. Johnson oversees the corporate finance function, including bank financing and relationships, cash management, benefit plan investments and wholesale footwear credit.

Johnson joined Genesco in 1993 as a manager of corporate finance. In 1994, he became assistant treasurer and served in this position until 1996, when he was promoted to treasurer. In October 2006, Johnson was promoted to vice president, finance and treasurer. In 2008, he became chief financial officer for the Genesco Branded Group where he served until 2011.

Before joining Genesco, Johnson was vice president for The First National Bank of Chicago from 1986 to 1993. Johnson holds a bachelor of arts in economics from Northwestern University and a master of business administration from the University of Chicago.

Colin Temple, Managing Director of schuh, has been part of the successful fashion footwear chain for more than 35 years. He helped establish schuh's multi-channel credentials, develop branded and own branded footwear offerings and managed the sale of schuh to Genesco/Journeys, which has put the company firmly on a global footing. Temple is also a great ambassador of youth, ensuring young people play a vital role within schuh.