Vera Bradley co-founder to retire from the company's board

Vera Bradley has announced that the company’s co-founder and long-time board member Patricia R. Miller is retiring from its board of directors, effective August 30, 2019. Miller and her close friend Barbara Bradley Baekgaard co-founded Vera Bradley in 1982, and Miller has served as a member of the company’s board of directors since then. From 1982 through June 2010, she served as co-president of the company. In June 2010, she was appointed national spokesperson, the position she continued until her retirement in October 2012.

Commenting on Miller’s retirement, Robert Hall, Chairman of the Vera Bradley board of directors, said in a statement: “As co-founder of Vera Bradley, Pat was an integral and important part in the growth and success of our Company. Throughout her career at Vera Bradley, Pat provided leadership and strategic direction to the business, guiding the development of the company’s operations and supply chain infrastructure and the growth of its employee base.”

Vera Bradley co-founder announces her retirement from the board

Miller took a leave of absence from the company in 2005 and 2006 to serve as the first secretary of commerce for the State of Indiana and the chief executive officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. The company said, in 1994, after the loss of a friend to breast cancer Miller and Baekgaard established the Vera Bradley Foundation for breast cancer. To date, the foundation has raised over 32 million dollars for breast cancer research at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center.

“As a co-founder of Vera Bradley, it has been my privilege to serve on the board for the last 37 years. I am extremely proud of the company’s growth, from an idea between two friends, to the globally recognized Vera Bradley of today,” added Miller.

In addition to serving on the board of the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer, Miller serves as a director for the Indiana University Foundation, and in the past, she has served as a board member for more than 15 non-profit organizations.

The Company is served by ten remaining board members including Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, co-founder of Vera Bradley; Richard Baum, managing partner of private equity firm Consumer Growth Partners; Robert Hall, Chairman of the Vera Bradley board and President of private investment firm Green Gables Partners; Mary Lou Kelley, former president of ecommerce for Best Buy; John Kyees, retired chief investor relations Officer of Urban Outfitters; Matthew McEvoy, former chief of strategy and new business development at Burberry Group; Michael Miller, Patricia Miller’s husband and retired senior partner in the law firm of Hunt Suedhoff Kalamaros; Frances Philip, former chief merchandising officer of L.L. Bean; Edward Schmults, Chief Executive Officer of Calyx Peak Companies; and Robert Wallstrom, Chief Executive Officer of Vera Bradley.

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