James F. McCann, has served as the Company's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer since inception. Mr. McCann has been in the floral industry since 1976 when he began building a chain of retail flower shops in the New York metropolitan area. Mr. McCann acquired the 800-FLOWERS phone number and renamed the company in 1986 followed by his launch on the Internet in 1992. Mr. McCann is a published author and award winning public speaker. He is a member of the board of directors of Willis Group Holdings Limited and Gruppo Lottomatica.
Christopher G. McCann has been the Company's President since September 2000 and prior to that was the Company's Senior Vice President. Mr. McCann has been a Director of the Company since inception. Mr. McCann serves on the board of directors of Neoware, Inc., Bluefly, Inc. and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Marist College. Christopher G. McCann is the brother of James F. McCann who is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of the Company.
Jeffrey C. Walker has been a Director of the Company since February 1995 and is Chairman of the Compensation Committee. Mr. Walker is Chairman & CEO of CCMP Capital Advisors, LLC, a leading private equity investment firm. Prior to CCMP, Mr. Walker was Managing Partner of J.P. Morgan Capital Partners, the private equity group of J.P. Morgan (formerly The Chase Manhattan Corporation) since 1988, and a General Partner thereof since 1984. Mr. Walker is also a director of iXL, Guitar Center, House of Blues and Doane PetCare.
Ms. Murley is a proven change agent executive and director with extensive senior management experience in Consumer Package Goods and Retail, including Procter & Gamble and Hallmark. Ms. Murley was most recently recruited by the private equity company Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. to lead a business turnaround for their portfolio company The Boyds Collection, Ltd. where she served as Chief Executive Officer and Director. Prior to the KKR assignment, Ms. Murley was Group Vice President for Hallmark Cards, Inc. where she had P(L) responsibility for a $2.8 billion operating group. Prior to Hallmark, Ms. Murley worked for more than 20 years at The Proctor & Gamble Company rising through both the domestic and international management ranks. Ms. Murley is a member of the Board of Directors at The Clorox Company where she serves on both the Audit and Nominating and Governance committees.
Mr. Conefry is the retired Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Astoria Financial Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary Astoria Federal Savings. He formerly served as the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Long Island Bancorp and The Long Island Savings Bank from 1993 until 1998 and was a Director of the Long Island Savings Bank from 1980 until its merger with Astoria Financial in 1998. From 1981 through 1993, Mr. Conefry was a Sr. Vice President of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. where he served in several capacities, including Chief Financial Officer, Director of Operations and Systems and a Sr. Vice President in Sales. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Conefry was a partner in the public accounting firm of Deloitte Haskins & Sells where he had 14 years of extensive accounting and auditing experience.
Mr. Elmore is Senior Counsel at the legal firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green and MacRae, LLP. Prior to his current position, he was President and CEO of Test University (TestU), a leading provider of web-based, customized learning standardized test preparation and education assessment solutions. From 1992-1996, Mr. Elmore served as founder and president of Precept Sports & Entertainment, Inc., a sports management and marketing company. Mr. Elmore was Of Counsel to Van Grack, Axelson & Williamowsky, P.C. of Rockville, MD from 1994 to 1996, where he specialized in the areas of civil and criminal litigation. He served as an Assistant District Attorney for Kings County (Brooklyn) N.Y., from 1987 to 1990. Mr. Elmore is also a college basketball analyst for ESPN. From 1985 to 1991, Mr. Elmore was a network television analyst for CBS, ESPN and JP Sports for NBA and NCAA basketball telecasts. He currently serves as Marketing Committee Chair for the University of Maryland at College Park Foundation Board of Trustees. He also serves on the boards of two other non-profit organizations, The Sports Lawyers Association and The NBA Retired Players Association.
James "Jim" A. Cannavino is Chairman and CEO of Direct Insite. Prior to this, he was Chairman and CEO of Softworks, Inc (a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Insite, formerly Computer Concepts), which went public and was later sold to EMC. Mr. Cannavino was also the Chairman and CEO of CyberSafe, Inc., a company specializing in network security. Prior to Cybersafe, Mr. Cannavino was President and COO of Perot Systems Corporation with responsibility for all the day-to-day global operations of the company, as well as for strategy and organization. Prior to Perot Systems, Mr. Cannavino served as a Senior Vice President at IBM, where he was responsible for corporate strategy and development. Mr. Cannavino's career spanned thirty years at IBM beginning in 1963. Mr. Cannavino led IBM's restructuring of its $7 billion PC business to form the IBM PC Company. He also served on the IBM Corporate Executive Committee and Worldwide Management Council, and on the board of IBM's integrated services and solutions company. He also was a board member for three IBM joint-venture companies, including Prodigy Services, Inc.; Digital Domain, Inc.; and NewLeaf Entertainment. Mr. Cannavino presently serves on the Boards of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Verio, and is Chairman of Artimas International. He recently served as Chairman of the Board of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York and continues to serve on that board.
Lawrence Calcano rejoined the Company's Board of Directors on December 7, 2006. Mr. Calcano had been a member of the Company's Board of Directors from 1999 through 2004. Mr. Calcano is Managing Partner of Meadowood Capital and former head of Technology Banking at Goldman Sachs & Company.