Vera Bradley, Inc.

anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mark DeLay, Chief Administrative Officer. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Good morning and welcome, everyone. We'd like to thank you for joining today's call. Some of the statements made during our prepared remarks in response to your questions may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to and within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as amended. Such forward-looking statements are subject to both known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expect. Please refer to today's press release and company's most recent Form 10-K filed with the SEC for discussion of known risks and uncertainties. Investors should not assume that the statements made during the call will remain operative at a later time. We undertake no obligation to update any information discussed on today's call. I will now turn the call over to Vera Bradley's incoming executive chairman, Ian Bickley. Ian?

Thanks, Mark. Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to speak with all of you. I wanted to join today's call to provide you with some insight on the changes that are taking place at Vera Bradley and to discuss my role in the transition going forward. But first, on behalf of the entire board of directors, I want to acknowledge both Jackie and Michael for their work and dedication in helping position Vera Bradley for its next chapter on the transformation journey. And thank both for their commitment to facilitating a smooth transition of leadership. We also wish them well in their future endeavors. As you heard from today's announcement, Jackie will be departing the company at the end of July. the board of directors has launched a nationwide search to find the next CEO. We have already seen many promising candidates and are focused on hiring the best person to drive Vera Bradley's continued transformation. In the interim, the board believes it is important to have consistent and steady leadership and asked me to assume the role of executive chairman until we have a new CEO in place and ready to lead the company again. In this role, I will be working with Jackie and the management team to ensure a smooth transition. When Jackie leaves at the end of July, I will lead the company until our new CEO is on board. Concurrent with this change, the board has announced the formation of a new strategy and transformation committee. The goal of the committee is to work with the management team and incoming leadership in refining the company's strategic direction and future growth initiatives and accelerate the company's operational transformation. Director Andrew Meslow, former CEO of Bath and Body Works, is joining me on this committee. We are delighted that Andrew is willing to serve in this important role. I am approaching this role not merely as a caretaker, but as someone committed to driving performance and needed change for the company. The board believes we must accelerate our transformation and improve our results. We will focus on refining our strategy while driving operational efficiencies and cost savings to improve profitability and performance. I bring over 30 years of relevant industry experience, including rapidly scaling businesses, as well as driving both brand and operational business transformation. I was president of Coach's international group and have served as an independent director on the Crocs board since 2015. More recently, I acted as the interim CEO at the Body Shop, where I helped stabilize the business and navigate it through a successful sales process. I am also pleased that Marty Lading will be joining the company as the chief financial officer. Marty began his career at Procter & Gamble and has extensive experience in various CFO roles and also has a strong track record of driving operational transformation and rapidly scaling businesses in both the public and private domain, having worked for brands such as Coach, Supreme, and most recently at Noodle. I have previously worked with Marty and look forward to the significant contribution he can make to improving performance and accelerating the pace of change. Notwithstanding the current results, Vera Bradley is an iconic brand with strong awareness and deep emotional connections with consumers of all generations. I am personally optimistic about the opportunity to restore the brand's cultural relevance with a new generation of consumers as well as with many of its longtime fans, while at the same time accelerating the simplification of the company's operating model to drive greater agility and efficiency. I look forward to leading and overseeing the continuation and acceleration of this important work until a new CEO has been brought on board. I am now going to turn the call over to Jackie and Michael to discuss Q1 results. Jackie?