Latest news with #Szczepanski
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Shuffle Board: Carbios' Changing of the Guard
French biotech firm developing plastic-eating enzymes, Carbios, said founder and current CEO, Philippe Pouletty, resigned from his roles as chairman of the board and director, as well as from his term as transitional CEO. Pouletty—co-founder of Truffle Capital and thus early-backer of Carbios—assumed the role when Emmanuel Ladent's 2.5-year CEO stint with the startup closed last March. Upon accepting the interim title, Pouletty announced that then-director Vincent Kamel would be working alongside him, as the former Veolia division-head would bring 'exceptional international industrial experience in specialty chemicals' to the table. More from Sourcing Journal Nike's Supply Chain Workers Continue to 'Fight the Heist' Shuffle Board: Spinnova CEO Resigns, Vitale Joins Versace EXCLUSIVE: Fanatics, Nike Back Binding Agreement to Fight Workplace Sexual Violence in Indonesia Kamel becomes CEO to continue 'the work already undertaken' as Carbios works to keep efforts on 'successfully executing strategic objectives,' such as securing the additional funding needed to build its PET plant. Isbaelle Parize becomes chairwoman of the board of directors. Parize has been a board member since 2022 after becoming CEO of Delsey in 2018. Between 2021 and 2025, she will continue supporting the group as its supervisory board president. Specialty children's apparel retailer, The Children's Place, announced the appointment of John Szczepanski as chief financial officer, effective March 3. As CFO, Szczepanski will oversee finance, accounting, financial planning and analysis, tax, treasury, procurement, investor relations, internal audit and real estate. Szczepanski most recently served as CFO of Vince Holding Corp. and spent over 18 years in various roles at Ralph Lauren. Live social shopping company QVC Group has named Alex Wellen as president and chief growth officer. Wellen brings over 20 years of experience in digital media and will lead QVC Group's growth strategy across U.S. social selling, streaming, digital, new business development and platform distribution. He will oversee a multifunctional team to introduce new ideas into the organization in an effort to drive growth. Technology-enabled apparel distributor S&S Activewear has named Kendall Whitley as vice president of team sales. Whitley's nearly four decades of sporting goods industry experience will expand S&S's presence in the team sales channel to drive revenue growth and increase market share. In this role, Whitley will develop and implement strategic sales initiatives to drive growth, reporting directly to chief commercial officer Toby Whitmoyer. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Yahoo
Traverse City music director fired from church over same-sex marriage
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Michigan's civil rights laws say employers cannot discriminate, yet that's exactly what a music director says happened to him and that the priest lied about it to parishioners. The backstory Fred Szczepanski is the music director for 34 years at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Traverse City. Bill Thompson and Szczepanski got married in 2020, but they've been together for 32 years. "Over the last 34 years, he's not missed a Christmas service, or a midnight mass, or an Easter service. He was always there, very committed to that church," Thompson said. "He built up a children's choir and a funeral choir and the regular choir. Szczepanski was just weeks away from his Jan. 1 retirement when his new boss, Father Michael Lingaur, fired him at the end of October, 2024. "Oh, it was my life—it was my life—I was 32 when I started there," Szczepanski said. "All the little kids I had in my children's choir—I did their weddings, and they're now parents and supporting me the most." What they're saying Szczepanski says there had never been a problem until the new priest, Michael Lingaur, arrived three months prior. He called me in the office and told me that he had to let me go because of a same-sex marriage—even though everyone in the church and all of my former bosses knew of our relationship. But because we got married four years ago, he couldn't let me work for the church anymore," he said. "Then he said we are going to tell everyone you are taking an early retirement, which was a lie." Thompson said Lingaur asked Szczepanski to work two more weeks after their meeting, adding insult to injury. "When he terminated me, he said that you're welcome to worship here, but you can no longer do music for masses, for weddings, for funerals—and you can no longer receive communion," said Szczepanski. Dig deeper Suddenly, the lifelong Catholic and dedicated employee says he was not only excommunicated but on the receiving end of discrimination and wrongful termination. Blake Ringsmuth is Szczepanski's attorney—he says the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act prohibits such discrimination, and they're now suing the church and the Diocese of Gaylord. "This was just a malicious, cruel thing that this priest did," said Ringsmuth. "The fact of the matter is they don't have the right to discriminate like this against someone in their job. A sexual orientation, marriage status, and sex are protected classes—and the claim that we're bringing is that he was discriminated illegally on all of those fronts." The diocese declined to comment but referred us to a letter Bishop Jeffrey Walsh sent to parishioners saying employees consent to a ministerial agreement to adhere to the teachings of the Catholic Church, that marriage is an exclusive covenant between a man and a woman. "I had worked there 34 years—I had four prior bosses before this priest came in—and I've always had rave reviews on my performance. My personal life had nothing to do with my performance," said Szczepanski's. Local perspective There's been pushback, parishioners protested and even left the church altogether. So many people sent letters to the priest and the bishop. A dozen pastors from other denominations even weighed in. A testament to the impact of one music director for more than three decades. Now taking on a new role with his husband by his side. "We want to give a platform for future people who are discriminated against, because if no one takes a stand, nothing will ever change," Bill said. "It's not just about me—it's about people losing their jobs over this all over the country—and the reason I'm going through with this is because I don't want it to happen to someone else—you know it's wrong—it's wrong," Szczepanski said Why you should care Fred Szczepanski says he's grateful to the many people who have supported him and are supporting what they believe is an important civil rights case with far-reaching impact. The Source FOX 2 talked with Fred Szczepanski and his attorney, Elliott Larsen.
