Yahoo Finance EXCLUSIVE: Trove CEO Gayle Tait Steps Down
It’s the end of an era at Trove with Gayle Tait stepping down from her role as chief executive officer of the tech-driven branded resale platform.
It is also the beginning of the next phase with digital retail veteran Terry Boyle stepping in as CEO on June 17.
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According to Tait, who will remain on the board of directors, the departure wasn’t a business decision. It was a personal choice.
“It’s been three-and-a-half lightning-fast, very fulfilling years, and I decided at the beginning of the year that it’s time for me to hit pause,” she told WWD. “Both my girls are in pivotal moments of their lives and I want to spend more time with them … so I am going to take a break.”
Time will tell if that’s a temporary pause or not. But either way, she’s going out on top.
Credited with Trove’s fundamental shift — from providing services to developing software that allows brands to manage their own resale programs — Tait mustered all of her experiences across Google, L’Oréal and E.l.f. for the job. She joined as president and chief operating officer in 2021, as the pandemic roiled the retail industry, and then ascended to CEO in 2022.
Over nearly four years, she pulled off a transformation that continues to pay out. The company added several brands, including Filson (Filson Unfailing), Cotopaxi (Cotopaxi Mas Vida), Brooks (Brooks ReStart) and Canada Goose (Canada Goose Generations). It is also expanding resale programs with existing partners such as Patagonia, Lululemon and Arc’teryx.
According to the company, it now accounts for nearly two-thirds of all the branded resale site traffic in the U.S.
As incoming CEO, Boyle has large shoes to fill. With the major groundwork already built, he can start off on a solid footing.
“Gayle has done an amazing job of taking Trove from services to software, and as I dove in, I got very excited, because I’ve always run the tech stacks inside these e-commerce companies and retailers,” he explained to WWD.
“I kind of have a sense for how complex this would be to build on your own, and I think Trove has built software that allows brands and retailers to decide how they want to play, how big they want the program to be, how much they want to ramp up the supply side, how much they want to ramp up the demand side. That’s exciting.”
It’s also a far cry from his previous gig running Zulily, the beleaguered online retailer that shuttered in December just months after QVC parent Qurate sold the business to Regent. Before that, Boyle led L.A. e-commerce company Behold, and worked at Nordstrom, where he ran various groups from Trunk Club to HauteLook and Nordstromrack.com.
Boyle learned about the opportunity at Trove from its founder and first CEO Andy Ruben, a longtime friend from back in his Nordstrom days. “We talked probably about seven or eight months ago, and he got me up to speed on where Trove was and how they were really focused on being a software provider, so brands and retailers could run their own resale programs,” he said.
Boyle found the scenario exciting, especially during a time when sustainability matters more than ever in fashion. He considers resale to be one of the easiest environmental choices that companies can make over the next 10 years, so his new role will focus on getting this message out.
There’s more opportunity beyond that, Boyle said, mainly because brands are only just waking up to what resale can do for them in marketing and other areas.
“If you look at the economics and certain designs, it can be an accretive investment almost immediately,” he added. “When marketers are looking at their portfolio of channels, there’s almost nothing else that does that.”
In basic terms, if Tait’s era was about remaking Trove’s business with a strong tech foundation, Boyle’s will be about building on it for growth.
The departing CEO looks forward to watching her successor in action, she said, especially as he applies his retail expertise to tackle resale’s unique challenges — namely discovery and merchandising.
“My advice to Terry as he takes on this role is to keep the future front and center,” said Tait. “Resale is an emerging space, and in partnership with some of the world’s best brands, we are pioneers in this field.”
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