Kendra Scott Hires Tiffany Veteran Kerry Feldmann as Chief Merchandising Officer
Kerry Feldmann, 15 years at Tiffany and most recently at John Hardy, joins Kendra Scott on November 16 to sharpen its assortment. What the hire means for Canadian jewellers.
Kendra Scott chief merchandising officer Kerry Feldmann starts on November 16, 2026. She spent 15 years at Tiffany & Co. and most recently ran merchandising, planning and design at John Hardy. She reports to CEO Chris Blakeslee.
Her first day in Austin falls on Monday. The brief that waits for her sits in the announcement itself. Blakeslee wants her to bring clarity to the assortment and to open new categories, ahead of the brand’s 25th anniversary in 2027. That is a merchant’s mandate, so it tells the trade more about where Kendra Scott is heading than any campaign would.
Who is Kerry Feldmann, the new Kendra Scott chief merchandising officer?
Feldmann has worked in jewellery for more than 20 years, according to the company release. She spent 15 of them at Tiffany & Co. in global merchandising and product development roles. Then she moved to John Hardy as senior vice president of merchandising, planning and design.
At John Hardy she led product strategy, collection architecture and commercial execution. The Bali-founded house has been majority owned by L Catterton since 2014. Since 2022, its creative chairman has been Reed Krakoff, who also came from Tiffany, as FashionNetwork reported at the time.
Her new title covers more than buying. She will lead merchandising and also planning and allocation, and she joins the executive leadership team. In plain terms, she decides what gets made, how deep each style is bought and which door receives which pieces. Her own verdict on the move was short: “Few brands have what Kendra Scott has.”
Why does Kendra Scott want a Tiffany merchant now?
Look at who arrived before her. Kendra Scott rebuilt its top team in 2026, and Feldmann is the first of the four new executives with a career in jewellery. Blakeslee came from apparel, as Glossy noted. The finance and business chiefs came from Yeti and Gap.
| Role | Executive | Start date | Previous company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chief executive officer | Chris Blakeslee | January 12, 2026 | Athleta, Alo Yoga |
| Chief financial officer | Mike McMullen | April 27, 2026 | Yeti |
| Chief business officer (new role) | Adrienne Gernand | April 27, 2026 | Gap Inc. |
| Chief merchandising officer | Kerry Feldmann | November 16, 2026 | John Hardy, Tiffany & Co. |
Sources: company announcements reported by FashionUnited and PR Newswire.
The product mix also explains the timing. Fine jewellery is now the brand’s fastest-growing category, Blakeslee told Glossy in September. The company also added a lab-grown diamond collection in 2024. This fall it also launched Ever, its first new material in seven years.
In addition, Kendra Scott runs more than 165 experiential stores and sells through more than 1,000 wholesale partners, FashionUnited reported. Blakeslee has said the U.S. store count could almost double. A business that size, moving up into fine jewellery, needs someone who has managed a Tiffany-grade assortment.
What does a clearer assortment look like in the showcase?
Kendra Scott sells plated fashion pieces and lab-grown diamond fine jewellery under one name. That range is its strength, but it can also blur. A clear assortment gives every price tier one job. Entry pieces bring a first purchase, core styles drive repeat visits and fine pieces lift the average ticket.
Collection architecture is the discipline behind that. Each collection has a hero, a few supporting styles and a planned depth by store. Feldmann did this work at John Hardy. Now she will do it across a much larger network of doors.
The same exercise works in an independent store. Take a store holding $600,000 at cost in its showcases. If 30 per cent of those styles have not sold in 12 months, $180,000 is sitting still. Clearing half of it and buying deeper in proven sellers frees $90,000 for the pieces that turn. These are example figures, but the method is the one a chief merchandising officer runs every season.
Will Kendra Scott open stores in Canada?
The company has announced no Canadian stores. Blakeslee told Glossy the business is almost entirely domestic. He added that international markets are an opportunity, but he gave no timetable.
Still, the pieces are in place. Gernand managed Gap’s international portfolio across more than 40 countries through licensing and wholesale, according to FashionUnited. Her record points to wholesale and licensing as a likely first route, though Kendra Scott has said nothing about Canada.
Today, Canadian shoppers buy through the brand’s international checkout, run by Global-e. Shoppers pay duties at checkout or on delivery. Kendra Scott does not publish Canadian sales, so no Canadian figures exist for the brand.
For context, Canadian retail sales reached $73.7 billion in July 2026, and e-commerce took 7.5 per cent of that, Statistics Canada reported. Sales at jewellery, luggage and leather goods stores rose 15.9 per cent from a year earlier, according to Retail Insider’s reading of the same data. Foreign houses have noticed, as our analysis of Chow Tai Fook’s Oakridge Park bet showed.
What should Canadian jewellers do with this news?
Treat it as a free lesson in merchandising, because a brand this size just told the market where its next dollar goes. Here is the Monday-morning file:
- Pull 12 months of sell-through by style, then mark every piece that has not turned.
- Give each price tier in the showcase one job, and cut styles that duplicate a job.
- Ask your fashion-to-fine suppliers for their 2027 assortment plan before you place orders.
- Watch Kendra Scott’s 25th anniversary launches next year as a read on accessible fine jewellery.
- Bring that plan to the Time & Shine Jewellery Trade Show in Toronto on April 11 and 12, 2027, where Canadian suppliers write orders.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the Kendra Scott chief merchandising officer?
Kerry Feldmann holds the role from November 16, 2026. She leads merchandising and planning and allocation, and she sits on the executive leadership team.
Where did Kerry Feldmann work before Kendra Scott?
She spent 15 years at Tiffany & Co. in global merchandising and product development. Most recently she was senior vice president of merchandising, planning and design at John Hardy.
Who does Kerry Feldmann report to?
She reports to Chris Blakeslee, who became CEO of Kendra Scott on January 12, 2026.
Why did Kendra Scott hire a chief merchandising officer now?
The brand turns 25 in 2027 and fine jewellery is its fastest-growing category. Its CEO wants a clearer assortment and new categories.
Does Kendra Scott have stores in Canada?
No Canadian stores have been announced. The CEO calls the business almost entirely domestic, and Canadians buy through the brand’s international online checkout.
Sources: Kendra Scott release, PR Newswire; Glossy; FashionUnited; RetailDive.com; Statistics Canada; Kendra Scott international orders.
Author: Olivier Fel.
Olivier Felicio is the founder and publisher of Canadian Jeweller Magazine, Canada's jewellery business publication since 1879. He writes on retail strategy, market data, trade policy and the commercial side of the Canadian jewellery and watch trade, and hosts Time and Shine, Canada's jewellery buying event. Contact: olivier@canadianjeweller.com.
