Surprise announcement

It was just a few weeks ago that women's retailer Chico's FAS filed its annual proxy statement to shareholders.

Reading the proxy document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, you'd never guess David Dyer, president and CEO, would announce his retirement just 13 days later, on May 21.

Although Dyer is 65 years old, Chico's does not have a mandatory retirement age. But Dyer says he's retiring at the end of fiscal year 2015, next spring. A search is under way for his successor and the replacement will likely be named by the end of the year.

Dyer took over as president and CEO in 2008 and returned the company to profitability. But flat comparable-store sales, an unremarkable acquisition of Boston Proper and the rampant speculation of a sale of the company to private equity firms reported in the financial press didn't help the chief executive in recent years.

Whatever the company's future, Dyer will walk away from Chico's well compensated. For the most recent fiscal year, Dyer earned $7.6 million and he owns more than $17 million worth of Chico's stock, including restricted awards that have not yet vested.

As one of the top employers in the Fort Myers area, Chico's is widely followed in Southwest Florida. Chico's is one of the economic development success stories in Fort Myers, starting as a single boutique on Sanibel. Today, the company operates more than 1,500 stores under the Chico's, White House | Black Market, Soma and Boston Proper brands.