Peter L. Harris
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Peter L. Harris (born December 17, 1943) is an American
retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...
and retail consultant.


Career

Harris attended
Whittier College Whittier College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic-serving institution, Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of spring 2024, had 815 ...
, where he played
center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
on the
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
team, and was a
catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...
for the
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
team. He went on to play
AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...
baseball. He began his career in the Central Valley of California stocking shelves at
Gemco The Groote Eylandt Mining Company, known by its acronym GEMCO, is an Australian company that was commissioned to mine high grade manganese ore. GEMCO is majority owned by South32. It runs its operation on 84 square kilometres (32 sq. mi.) of the Ar ...
. He became the
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
of the company 13 years later. Under his leadership, Gemco achieved $2.2 billion in sales, its highest level at the time. He became a member of the
Young Presidents' Organization YPO (formerly Young Presidents' Organization) is a US-based organization of chief executives with more than 36,000 members in more than 142 countries. History YPO was founded in 1950 in Rochester, New York, by manufacturer Ray Hickok, who was ...
. In 1985 as CEO Harris and an investor partner acquired world-famous
FAO Schwarz FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and Toy store, retail chain. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, Interactivity, interactive experiences, Product placement, brand integrations, and games. FAO Schwarz clai ...
. The company had lost some of its market share to toy discounters and stores with more modern offerings. Harris brought in exclusive product line agreements and newer toys to supplement traditional sales, and relocated the flagship Manhattan store. While at the company he invented the concept of "entertainment retail", a strategy that the customer should have an experience while in the store, a personal interaction between consumer and retailer. Harris sold the company to Dutch retail group KKB in 1990 and remained as CEO. He later moved to
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
company
Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing, adoubement, or knighting) () was the central act in the rite of passage Ceremony, ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. Etymology The term ''accolade'' entered English by 1591, when Thomas ...
and then Picture People until it was sold to
Hallmark Cards Hallmark Cards, Inc. is a Privately held company, privately held, family-owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce Hall, Hallmark is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of greeting cards in the United ...
. Harris employed the entertainment retail strategy there, where photographers would wear spin hats and children could play with a giant camera. In July 2000,
John York John C. York (born April 18, 1949) is an American retired cancer research pathologist, married to Marie Denise DeBartolo York, and former co-owner and current co-chairman of the San Francisco 49ers. and board member of Leeds United. Career Yo ...
, the new owner-representative of the
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...
, hired Harris to replace Carmen Policy as president and chief executive officer. Harris stayed for four years but did not renew his contract. During his time with the team, he oversaw the building a new stadium. In 2004 Harris was named the CEO of NASDAQ-listed boating lifestyle company
West Marine West Marine is an American company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which operates a chain of boating supply and fishing retail stores. The company has 247 retail stores in North America. West Marine also runs Blue Future a non profit organiz ...
in
Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and ...
, with more than 400 stores and 4,000 employees. He resigned in December 2007.Geoff Eisenberg Succeeds Peter Harris As President and Chief Executive Officer of West Marine: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance
/ref> In recent years Harris took on a full-time advisory and operating role as a Senior Managing Partner at crisis management firm Eaglepoint Advisors, before joining private equity firm TPG Growth as a senior advisor responsible for Human Capital. He became the chairman at TPG portfolio company XOJet where he remains on the board of directors. In 2014 he became President of GreenTech Environmental in Johnson City Tennessee. He left GreenTech at the end of 2018 to pursue other opportunities. As CEO of FAO Schwarz he was the inspiration for the Robert Loggia Character in the 1988 hit film Big.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Peter Living people 1943 births People from Stockton, California 20th-century American Jews American businesspeople in retailing 21st-century American Jews