The background of Mossimo Inc.’s new chief financial officer is being questioned by his former colleagues as well as investors, according to The Wall Street Journal.
When he was hired by the apparel company, Mali Shrinivas was praised by Mossimo for his “broad financial experience, particularly in retail and apparel,” according to the paper, citing a press release. At the time, the company said Shrinivas had spent a stint at a “publicly-traded, Swedish manufacturer and retailer of children’s clothing with over 600 stores nationwide.”
The Journal reported that some investors who checked into his background couldn’t find evidence that the now-defunct company, Dynarc AB, had any retail operations — let alone 600 stores — and that former Dynarc executives insisted that the company’s business was solely telecommunications.
“Dynarc was a networking start-up company. There was no clothing business whatsoever,” Peter Sjodin, a Dynarc founder and former board member who lives in Sweden, told the Journal by E-mail.
Shrinivas has denied that he falsified his resume, according to the paper. He referred questions about his time at Dynarc to someone he described as the company’s former chief executive, Tim Oliveraz, although Shrinivas didn’t provide contact information, added the Journal. “I stand behind what’s in the release, and the company stands behind me, too,” he told the paper.
Even so, Mossimo president Edwin Lewis told the Journal that one portion of the press release should be clarified: Dynarc was not a retailer that had 600 stores. Rather, its product was “sold into 600 stores.” He attributed the error to a miscommunication between Shrinivas and Mossimo.