Good morning! L.A. fire chief Kristin Crowley is out, Citigroup renames DEI team and abandons diversity goals, and a founder's much-envied exit taught her not to give up control too soon.
- Exit plan. In 2002, Gail Federici was the cofounder and CEO of John Frieda Haircare. She and celebrity stylist Frieda were all in on the salon-quality haircare brand when they got "an offer we couldn't refuse," Federici remembers, and sold for a blockbuster $450 million to Japan's Kao Corporation, which sought shelf space in the U.S.
But while Frieda enjoyed the fruits of their success ("In Switzerland, at his house in Ibiza, at another house on yachts going everywhere," Federici says) the sale left his cofounder in a "dark place."
