Philip N. Diehl leaves U.S. Mint to join Zale Corp.
Philip N. Diehl, the U.S. Mint director who transformed a sleepy government agency into an entrepreneurial enterprise devoted to improving customer relationships, has resigned to become president of Zale.com, the Internet component of jewelry retailer Zale Corp.
He will be replaced by Jay W. Johnson, a former Wisconsin congressman and now deputy executive director of the Treasury’s Savings Bond Marketing Office.
Diehl had extended his five-year term at the Mint to shepherd the introduction of the Sacagawea golden dollar, of which there are now more than 300 million in circulation.
Since 1995, the Mint’s annual revenue from collectible coin sales has doubled to more than $2.4 billion. Diehl, who was appointed in 1994, also counts among his successes last year’s rollout of the 50-state quarters program, described as the most successful numismatic initiative in history.
Diehl says his experience in overseeing the Mint’s Web site (www.usmint.gov) has primed him for the move to a dot-com.
He will also take the title of senior vice president of Irving, TX-based Zale Corp. (www.zale.com). The company, which operates about 1,350 specialty jewelry stores under four brands, reported sales of $1.4 billion in fiscal 1999.
“The big question, of course, with a brick-and-mortar dot-com venture is whether or not they have a model for integrating an aggressive [online enterprise] within the structure of the current business,” he says. “It was real clear to me that the management team had been wrestling with this issue and had come to some conclusions.”
In his new post, Diehl will lead the development of Zale’s Web-based business, including online sales, marketing, fulfillment and customer relationship management.
Diehl’s immediate task will be to oversee the introduction of four distinct Web sites servicing Zale’s four brands. Sites for Zales Jewelers and its upscale counterpart, Bailey Banks & Biddle Fine Jewelers, are expected to be set up this year, followed by sites for Zales midlevel market Gordon’s Jewelers and Zale’s Canadian brand, Peoples Jewellers, in 2001.
As he did at the Mint, Diehl is eager to exploit the Web’s CRM potential. One of his primary targets is the average American male who probably doesn’t know much about jewelry – and is somewhat intimidated when shopping for it.
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