Noel Hord, a philanthropist and one of the footwear industry’s longtime executives, died on May 27. He was 79.
Hord was born on July 10, 1946, in Indiana. He went to become an alumnus of Indiana State University. In addition to his extensive history in the shoe industry, Hord was also a philanthropist. He was the cofounder of The Hord Foundation Inc., which provides scholarships for the education of deserving and disadvantaged youth.
Since 2016, Hord was a business and non-profit consultant. He began his career in the shoe business starting with a stint in high school as a stock runner in the Barker’s shoe store in his hometown of Terre Haute, Ind. He then entered the training program at St. Louis-based Wohl Shoe Co., a part of Brown Group, followed by a 10-year stint as general manager of the shoe business at J.L. Hudson in Detroit when he then moved to Fisher Camuto Inc. in 1984, becoming president of the Enzo Angiolini division from 1988 to 1991, and then group president of the Anzo Angiolini and Nine West division from 1991 to 1993.
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Hord became president and chief operating officer of U.S. Shoe from 1993 to 1995. After leading the 1995 merger of Nine West Group and the footwear division of U.S. Shoe Corp. in a deal valued at $600 million, Hord became president and chief operating officer of Nine West Group.
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Following a short stint at Internet startup Dunk Inc. from 1999 to 2000, he joined BCBG Max Azria Inc. from 2001 to 2002 as president and chief operating officer, with responsibility for all women’s shoe operations, where he also launched the new footwear brand BCBG Girls. He next joined New York Transit Inc., a wholesaler and distributor of footwear, as president and chief operating officer from 2003 to 2007. After two years as a private consultant, Hord joined Li & Fung Ltd. from 2009 to 2010 where he was president of KVZ Footwear Group. He then went on to become president and CEO of Donald J. Pliner from 2010 to 2016. In that role, he led a strategic initiative to turn around a struggling 27-year-old brand and unprofitable business that had been purchased by the private equity firm Castanea Partners.
Hord received the Footwear News Achievement Award for Man of the Year in 1994, during his tenure as president of footwear operations at U.S. Shoe. One thing was evident when FN interviewed him for his award profile: Hord often began his sentences with the word “we,” whether referring to the company or to himself. The “we” referred to the management team he recruited following the merger. He said his experience at Wohl, which he described as a great teacher and trainer of people, provided him with the necessary background to face the challenges of the Nine West-U.S. Shoe merger. Those challenges included fixing two core franchises: Easy Spirit and Bandolino.
“They had the philosophy that first you build your organization and then the organization will build your business. They made me a believer that business is not marketing and product; it is people,” he told FN.
Indeed, Hord was regarded as first and foremost a people person. That was evident in his willingness to meet with others, whether a division president or a revolving roster of lower-level associates, his executive assistant Amy Burke told FN for its Man of the Year profile. “He really practices an open-door policy,” she said. “He’ll make time for anyone.”
Hord was also ahead of his time in pushing for equal opportunity, an ideal close to his heart as he was also the first African-American shoe salesman hired in Terre Haute by retailer Ben Becker. Hord had issued a corporate directive regarding diversity at U.S. Shoe. “We want to be an organization that sees diversity as a strength — diversity in terms of background, race, gender and experience,” he told FN.
“Noel was very instrumental in my life and in my career,” said Len Pesko of the Modern Pulse Consultancy Group. “He was beloved by everyone he came in contact with.”
According to Hord’s wife Tamar in a social media post, the Hord Family is requesting that anyone wishing to honor Noel Hord’s memory do so via a donation to The Hord Foundation, which is based in Danbury, Conn. Hord’s first wife Cora, with whom he had two children, Michelle and Noel Daniel, passed away in February 1994 from a brain aneurism. The two founded the Hord Foundation in 1989.