Following an illustrious career that spanned over 3½ decades at Supima, Mr. Jesse W. Curlee, its President & CEO, has announced that he will retire on December 31, 2015. The Supima Board of Directors has selected its current Executive Vice President, Marc A. Lewkowitz, to assume the duties of President/CEO effective January 1, 2016.
Jesse has seen many accomplishments in Supima’s 60 years. He began his career with the Phoenix-based Supima in October 1979 as General Manager and in 1981 he was named President/CEO. American Pima cotton production averaged approximately 75,000 bales annually when Jesse joined Supima and steadily increased to over 850,000 bales in recent years, over a 1,000 per cent increase.
He also worked to expand production to California in the late 1980s. Today over 90 per cent of the American Pima production is in California.
During his career with Supima, Jesse promoted the introduction of Supima to the fashion industry with the start of its now recognized and respected annual Supima Design Competition and fashion runway show during Fashion Week in New York City. Under Curlee’s leadership, Supima began a licensing program for customers wanting to use the Supima name with the first licensees in Japan in the 1980s.
Supima now licenses the name and trademark worldwide to spinners, knitters, weavers, manufacturers, brands and retailers with over 370 licensees in 39 countries.
The Supima Chairman, Keith B. Deputy, stated: “On behalf of the entire membership, staff and Supima Board of Directors, we sincerely thank Jesse for his valuable contributions, passionate leadership and dedication to the American Pima cotton industry. Jesse has been a strong leader and advocate for Supima and has made a tremendous impact in the promotion and advancement of Supima cotton.”