Gary Friedman is the chairman and chief executive officer of home furnishings retailer

Restoration Hardware RH (formerly Restoration Hardware) is an upscale American home-furnishings company headquartered in Corte Madera, California. The company sells its merchandise through its retail stores, catalog, and online. As of August 2018, the company operate ...

, Inc.

Early life

Gary Friedman was born in San Francisco to a Jewish family. When he was five years of age, his father died and he was raised by his mother in

Sonoma, California Sonoma () is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma' ...

. While attending community college, he worked part-time at The Gap, in 1977. He became the youngest manager in the company's history, in addition to the company's youngest district manager and regional manager.

Career

From 1988 to 2001, Friedman worked for Williams-Sonoma, Inc., where he served in various capacities, including as president and

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

from May 2000 to March 2001, and as chief merchandising officer and Director of Retail Stores for both Williams-Sonoma and

Pottery Barn Pottery Barn is an American upscale home furnishing store chain and e-commerce company, with retail stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Pottery Barn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. The company is hea ...

brands from 1992 to 2000. He was appointed president and chief executive officer of Restoration Hardware in June 2011 and served as co-chief executive officer since 2001. On August 16, 2012, Friedman stepped down after an alleged relationship with a 26-year-old female subordinate employee. Friedman was reappointed co-CEO and chairman of the board for Restoration Hardware in July 2013. At Restoration Hardware he has overseen several reinventions of the company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Gary G. 1957 births Living people American retail chief executives Businesspeople from San Francisco Williams-Sonoma people American chief operating officers Santa Rosa Junior College alumni