Destination Maternity taps two new executives

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Destination Maternity Corp. has appointed Dave Helkey as chief financial officer and chief operating officer, and has appointed Doug Goeke as chief transformation officer.

Both will report to chief executive officer Marla Ryan.

Helkey’s new role will include overseeing the Moorestown retailer’s finance, accounting, IT, real estate, inventory management, sourcing, human resources, legal and warehouse/logistic departments.

Goeke will oversee the company’s multi-year strategic plan, Destination->Forward.

Helkey has more than two decades of experience, most recently as CFO and COO of keepsake company Things Remembered. There, he was responsible for implementing a real estate strategy to grow online sales while lowering store footprint, and he oversaw a robust restructuring plan with creditors and advisors while also running the company’s finance, business innovation and fulfillment center departments.

“We believe Dave’s experience and successful track record in retail, both online and in store, along with his operations management and capital markets experience make him ideally suited to fill the role of CFO and COO,” said Ryan in a prepared statement. “We are excited to have Dave on board and look forward to the contributions he will make while managing the company’s strategic growth initiatives.”

Goeke’s multi-decade executive experience spans three countries and multiple public companies. Most recently, he was the senior vice president and general manager of support services North America at mechanical and industrial engineering firm Babcock International Group’s Washington, D.C. office; prior to that, he held multiple c-suite positions at aviation company Gategroup Holding Ltd. in Virginia.

“Doug has a vast amount of experience creating value through strategic performance improvements across business segments, which will be invaluable to his efforts to oversee and support the advancement of our multi-year strategic plan,” Ryan’s statement said.