Ruby,
a grill-and-bar chain with a sister Asian concept pitted against P.F. Chang’s
Chinese Bistro, released a press release to hoot about its two new directors.
One of them is 34-year veteran Lane Cardwell, identified in the release as
having “most recently served as the President of
P.F. Chang's China Bistro from 2011 to 2012.” Note the past tense. I know I did. And that led to
embarrassing geekiness in tracking down a little-noticed securities disclosure that
Cardwell exited his post at Chang’s by mutual agreement on May 17.
But don’t feel bad for Lane if you missed it, too. Within a
week, Chang’s had offered Cardwell an unspecified post in an “executive
capacity” for another year, at a compensation level of $350,000.
It’s just salary; Cardwell opted to waive any equity
compensation. In return, Chang’s agreed to unshackle Cardwell from his
non-compete agreement.
Fast forward to today, when Ruby announced Cardwell’s
appointment. He’s serving the chain as a director, not an executive. But that’s
an exact parallel of how he ended up in Chang’s “C” suite. Plus he knows Ruby,
having served as a consultant to the chain before taking his post at Chang’s.
It’d all be wild-hair speculation if it wasn’t for the
announcement awhile back from Ruby founder and longtime CEO Sandy Beall, who
said he would step down as soon a successor was selected.
Will Cardwell be that heir apparent? We’ll keep an eye on the situation.
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