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Robert J. Corliss
Co-Founder/Partner
Chairman, Kairos Advisory Council
rcorliss@kairoscapitalpartners.com

Robert J. Corliss is a recognized leading executive and innovator in the retail sporting goods manufacturing industries, with a 30-year track record of growth and innovation. Bob has been a successful investor and created profitable returns for investors in both retail and consumer product companies. He has founded companies, led turnarounds, organized a management buyout and arranged numerous liquidity events.

Bob currently serves as the CEO of Friedman's Jewelers as well as the Chairman of the National Retail Federation Foundation and a Director and Executive Committee Member of the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF is the world’s largest retail trade association, representing an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments that comprise all retail formats and channels of distribution. Bob also serves on the Board of Directors of The World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, the American Running Association and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. In 2004, in recognition of his vision, leadership and support of the sporting goods industry and his community, Bob was awarded Sports Edge magazine’s “Visionary Award,” and in his honor, the award has been renamed the “Robert J. Corliss Visionary Award.”

From 1998 until 2007, Bob served as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Athlete’s Foot (TAF), the world’s largest franchisor of athletic footwear with over 600 stores in more than 40 countries. Bob led the company to record growth during a time of stagnant growth in this sector. In 1998, he introduced an award-winning new-store design prototype and proprietary state-of-the-art foot scanner, the “Fit Print System,” that quickly gained international recognition. The “Fit Print System” has raised the standard of service excellence within the industry and established The Athlete’s Foot as a leader in world-class customer service and the leading resource for technical athletic footwear. In 2003, Bob, along with members of his senior management team, purchased The Athlete’s Foot from Group Rallye. In late 2006, TAF was profitably sold to NexCen Brands Inc. (Ticker: NEXC).

Prior to joining The Athlete’s Foot, Bob was the founder, president and CEO of Infinity Sports, Inc., a manufacturer, distributor and licensor of athletic products primarily under the brand Bike Athletic. He was successful in broadening global distribution and virtually doubled the size of Bike Athletic over a three-year period. Earlier experience includes leading, as President and CEO, the successful turnaround and eventual sale of Herman’s Sporting Goods, Inc. At the time, Herman’s was the leading sporting goods retailer generating annual revenues of approximately $700 million. Bob also served for five years as a principal and managing director of Senn-Delaney Management Consultants, the largest retail-consulting firm in the United States, and founded Senn-Delaney International, their international expansion in London. He is also a member of the Professional Advisory Board for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and is both an Advisor and Adjunct Professor for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Bob was born in Munich, Germany, and was educated primarily in Europe, where he lived for a total of 20 years. He speaks English, German and Spanish.