BIO
Professional Background: Mr. Gordman is president of Jeff Gordman Advisory LLC, which is engaged in two primary business activities: providing consulting services to the retail (apparel, footwear, accessories, home decor, grocery) and restaurant industries; and providing private equity, venture capital and angel capital to highly differentiated and scalable businesses across a variety of industries.
From 1996 to 2014, Mr. Gordman served an 18-year tenure as president and CEO of Gordmans Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: GMAN), which operated 95 off-price department stores in 20 states, employed 5,000 associates and generated annual revenues of $620 million. Gordman sold the Company to a large private equity firm in 2008, continuing as CEO to lead an initial public offering of common stock in 2010 as well as a secondary public offering in 2012.
In 2012 Forbes magazine ranked Gordmans number 29 on its list of America’s best small-cap companies based on growth in sales and earnings over the previous three-year period. In 2011 Mr. Gordman was the recipient of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for the Central Midwest region. Gordmans was recognized by the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce as one of the 25 Fastest Growing Companies in Omaha for both 2003 and 2004 as well as the Chamber’s Excellence in Business award in 2005 and 2008. Finally, Gordmans was the 2005 Nebraska Retail Federation’s Retailer of the Year.
Mr. Gordman currently serves on the board of directors of Insight2Design, a rapidly growing, multi-channel pioneer in the outdoor camping equipment industry with more than $200 million in annual retail sales. Gordman also serves on the board of directors of AML Foods, a publicly-traded retailer based in the Bahamas operating a variety of formats including grocery, warehouse club and super center stores.
Mr. Gordman served for 8 years on the board of directors of Hayneedle, Inc., a $300 million revenue, venture capital-backed online retailer, until its sale to Jet.com in 2016. He chaired the compensation committee throughout his board tenure. Gordman also served a five-year board term for Regency Beauty Institute, which was a leading operator of post-secondary cosmetology schools and a portfolio company of a Philadelphia-based private equity firm. Revenues expanded more than 7-fold during his board tenure, reaching $100 million in 2010.
From 1986 to 1988, Mr. Gordman was a mergers and acquisitions analyst for New York investment bank Lehman Brothers, and his responsibilities included developing valuations of client and target companies, preparing confidential sales memoranda and performing various financial analyses.
Educational Background: Gordman graduated cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics, and earned a Master of Science degree in management from the Sloan School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990.
Community Involvement: Mr. Gordman currently serves on the board of directors of the Omaha Symphony, YPO Gold Nebraska, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Habitat for Humanity of Omaha and the advisory board of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Nebraska. Gordman is also a member of the Nebraska Angels.
Gordman previously served on the boards of the Omaha Community Foundation, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Anti-Defamation League Great Plains Region (for which he was Co-Chair), the Omaha Community Playhouse, the Siena-Francis House homeless shelter, the Omaha Literacy Council, Community Health Charities, the Jewish Federation of Omaha, Camp Fire USA, and previously was the Chairman of the Retail Development Committee of the Omaha Chamber’s Economic Development Council. In addition, he was the Chair of the 2008 JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes for the Omaha/Council Bluffs region, which raised a record $1.1 million.
