Jack Mitchell

Biography

Jack Mitchell is Chairman and CEO of Mitchells/Richards/Marshs, a three-generation family business that operates men's and women's specialty stores in Connecticut and New York that are nationally renowned for their brilliant service touches and strong relationships. Jack himself has been recognized as one of the top ten retail visionaries of his time by the Daily News Record, one of the most widely read retail trade publications in the country.

The author of the 2003 Wall Street Journal bestseller Hug Your Customers, Jack has just completed his second book, HUG YOUR PEOPLE: The Proven Way to Hire, Inspire, and Recognize Your Employees and Achieve Remarkable Results which Hyperion will publish in March 2008.

After completing a B.A. at Wesleyan University in 1961 and an M.A. at the University of California-Berkeley, Jack joined the family business, Ed Mitchell, Inc., which was founded by his parents, Ed and Norma, and later became Mitchells of Westport. In 1995, Mitchells acquired Richards, the leading men's clothing store in Greenwich, Connecticut, and in 2006, added Marshs of Huntington, Long Island, to the group.

Growing up in a close-knit family and raising four sons established patterns of thoughtfulness and caring in Jack that blended seamlessly into serving the public in the retail clothing business. Under his leadership, along with his brother Bill and eight other family members, Mitchells, Richards, and Marshs have become well known for employee engagement and longevity and providing exceptional customer service and high quality merchandise in an exciting, friendly, and visually dynamic atmosphere.

In 2000, Richards received "Store of the Year" honors in the annual Retail Design Awards competition held by the National Association of Store Fixtures (NASFM) and co-sponsored by VM+SD magazine. In 2001, MR Magazine, the magazine of menswear retailing, named Mitchells/Richards Retailer of the Year.

Jack shares with his family a number of Community Leadership Awards from the Anti-Defamation League, The Menswear Division of UJA-Federation of New York, and Sacred Heart University. Jack is on the Yale Cancer Board and Greenwich Hospital Board of Trustees.

Jack has become an active speaker since 2003, keynoting at over 200 events for corporations including Morgan Stanley, Build-A-Bear, Payless, Nike, and Harvard University School of Business addressing audiences of all sizes and reaching over 31,000 people with Hug Your Customers/Hug Your People presentations.

Publications

Hug Your Customers
The only way to stay in business is with customers, and Jack Mitchell knows how to attract them, and how to keep them. He has a deceptively simple but winning approach to customer service—that a relationship is at the heart of every transaction. Jack's business philosophy is based on "hugs"– personal touches that impress and satisfy the customer, such as:
* Remembering the name of your customer's dog
* Calling a customer to make sure he's satisfied after a purchase
* Having a kids' corner with TV, books and treats
* Knowing your customer's golf handicap
* Introducing customers to business contacts
* Letting your customer use your office to make a personal phone call

This is a proven theory—hugging works!

Mitchells/Richards achieves among the highest margins in its industry, as well as amazing customer loyalty. Complete with anecdotes that exemplify outstanding customer service, Hug Your Customers shows how any business can adapt this hugging philosophy to attract great staff, lower marketing costs, and maintain higher gross margins and long-term revenues. At a time when customer service has become the difference between success and failure, Hug Your Customers shows how Jack's one-of-a-kind philosophy brings the results you're looking for.