Muppirala to Lead RH's Efforts to Build a Leading Digital Platform by
Forming a Technology Company Inside a Retail Company
CORTE MADERA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2017--
RH (NYSE:RH) today announced the appointment of Prakash Muppirala as
Chief Technology Officer and President of RH Digital Innovations.
Mr. Muppirala will lead RH's efforts to build a leading digital platform
by forming a technology company that will develop unique and proprietary
capabilities to amplify RH's pursuit of becoming one of the most admired
brands and business platforms in the world.
Gary Friedman, RH Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, “We
are delighted to announce the appointment of Prakash Muppirala as Chief
Technology Officer and President of RH Digital Innovations. Prakash has
a deep background as an engineer and technology leader who has
personally developed numerous patented systems, and participated in the
architecture of complex business platforms. His unique experience at
both eBay for nine years, and Staples for the past four years, has
prepared him to lead this important new business unit of RH.”
Mr. Muppirala said, “I am excited to be joining RH, a brand that is at
the forefront of innovation in retail. I look forward to working with
the RH team and contributing to future developments and the continued
evolution of the Company.”
Prior to joining RH, Mr. Muppirala served as Senior Vice President,
Global e-Commerce at Staples, Inc. leading large teams globally across
product, architecture, engineering, quality, operations and site
reliability engineering. Prior to Staples, Mr. Muppirala held director
of engineering and architecture roles at eBay Inc., AOL/Netscape, and
Siemens Inc. Mr. Muppirala has also founded multiple startups and holds
several patents in the internet and ecommerce areas. Mr. Muppirala
received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the National
Institute of Technology, India and a master’s degree in engineering
management from Santa Clara University.
About RH
RH (NYSE: RH) is a curator of design, taste and style in the luxury
lifestyle market. The Company offers collections through its retail
galleries, source books, and online at RH.com, RHModern.com, and
Waterworks.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the federal securities laws including statements related to: RH’s plans
to build a leading digital platform, form a technology company and
develop unique and proprietary capabilities; RH’s pursuit of becoming
one of the most admired brands and business platforms in the world; RH’s
creation of a new business unit and Mr. Muppirala’s ability to lead this
new business unit and develop new technologies and capabilities for RH.
You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not
relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may
include words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,”
“plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely” and other
words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of
the timing or nature of future events. We cannot assure you that future
developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated.
Important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from our expectations include, among others, our
ability to retain key personnel; successful implementation of our growth
strategy; our ability to take advantage of the transaction with
Waterworks; uncertainties in the current performance of our business
including a range of risks related to our operations as well as external
economic factors; general economic conditions and the impact on consumer
confidence and spending; changes in customer demand for our products;
factors affecting our outstanding convertible senior notes; our ability
to anticipate consumer preferences and buying trends, and maintaining
our brand promise to customers; changes in consumer spending based on
weather and other conditions beyond our control; risks related to the
number of new business initiatives we are undertaking; strikes and work
stoppages affecting port workers and other industries involved in the
transportation of our products; our ability to obtain our products in a
timely fashion or in the quantities required; our ability to employ
reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect personal
information that we collect; our ability to support our growth with
appropriate information technology systems; risks related to “conflict
minerals” compliance and its impact on sourcing, if any, as well as
those risks and uncertainties disclosed under the sections entitled
“Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations” in RH’s most recent Form 10-K filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and similar disclosures in
subsequent reports filed with the SEC, which are available on our
investor relations website at ir.restorationhardware.com and on the SEC
website at www.sec.gov. You should not place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us in
this press release speaks only as of the date on which we make it. We
undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking
statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments
or otherwise, except as may be required by any applicable securities
laws.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170518006200/en/
Source: RH
RH
Cammeron McLaughlin, 415-945-4998
SVP, Investor Relations
and Strategy
cmclaughlin@rh.com
