Gaping Holes At The Gap

After years of maintaining a stable executive lineup, Gap Inc. CEO Millard S. "Mickey" Drexler is suddenly facing a brain drain. Gap brand head Robert J. Fisher left the San Francisco-based retailer last October to spend more time with his family, while marketing head Michael McCadden, who helped start the online business, joined Priceline.com late last year. Then in March, Banana Republic chief Jeanne Jackson jumped ship to head Wal-Mart's online operations. And on Apr. 5, the parent company's chief operating officer, John B. Wilson, abruptly left as the company announced a sharp slowdown in sales growth.

Even in this era of nonstop job-hopping, the exodus is raising eyebrows. "Mickey doesn't lose people often," says Kirk Palmer, president of retail headhunting firm Kirk Palmer & Associates Inc. But these are troubled times at Gap--sales have been slowing for a year. Analysts believe Fisher left because of the weak performance, but the other departures may be more worrisome. "Who wants to be around when growth decelerates?" says a retail analyst at a large institutional investor.