MINNEAPOLIS, May 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) iMedia Brands, Inc. (“iMedia”) (NASDAQ: IMBI, IMBIL) today announces several executive additions and internal promotions, including the appointment of Tom Zielecki as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and the promotion of Troy Collings to Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer.

“We believe we are in the early innings of a significant growth phase. We grew revenue 21% year-over-year in fiscal 2021, and we expect similar annual revenue growth in 2022. It’s critical our small corporate team maintains the motivation and capabilities to continue to capture new opportunities and tackle new challenges,” said Tim Peterman, CEO of iMedia Brands, “And I’m proud to say these executives are tested, passionate and ready.”

Tom Zielecki was appointed SVP, Chief Financial Officer effective today. Mr. Zielecki is a seasoned omni-channel financial leader with over thirty years of experience in fast changing cultures, including sixteen years at Kmart/Sears Corporation, where his last role was the finance leader of several business units generating over $2 billion in annual sales in Home Fashions, Jewelry, Outdoor Living, Toys & Seasonal. Immediately prior to joining iMedia, he was Brand CFO of LTD Commodities, a direct-to-consumer cataloger. Mr. Zielecki began his career in public accounting at Deloitte & Touche in its assurance practice and at PriceWaterhouse in its mergers and acquisitions practice. He is a CPA and holds a BA in Accounting from Walsh College.

Troy Collings was promoted to SVP, Chief Information Officer effective today. Since joining iMedia in June 2021 as VP of Technology, Mr. Collings has successfully led several critical technology projects including the company’s Salesforce implementation, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance upgrades, and most recently ShopHQ’s change to PayPal as its merchant processor. Prior to joining iMedia, Mr. Collings held numerous engineering, technology, and leadership roles during his six years at Target and seventeen years at Cargill. He holds a BA in Computer Science and a BA in Accounting from the University of North Dakota.

iMedia also announced today that it has further strengthened its accounting, finance, and technology teams with the following:

• Monty Wageman, previously iMedia’s Chief Financial Officer, has taken on a new corporate finance role as Treasurer, where he will focus on working capital management, vendor relations, and the roll out of the accounts payable function as a shared service to all iMedia’s business units.
• Megha Manan joins iMedia in May 2022 as VP, Technology QA & Compliance. Ms. Manan has over seventeen years of experience navigating the complexities of software engineering through the pragmatic, consistent oversight of quality assurance, automation, and process improvement. Most recently, Megha spent nine years in senior engineering roles at Bluestem Brands. Megha holds a MS, Software Engineering from North Dakota State University and a BS, Management Information Systems also from North Dakota State University.
• Matthew Barsness recently joined iMedia as VP, Technology, and is successfully leading the organization’s customer operations software engineering teams and process that include Customer Service, Credit, Order Management, Fulfillment, Merchandising, and Finance business functions. Mr. Barsness has over twenty years of experience in escalating technology roles that include eight years at Accenture and eleven years at Bluestem Brands. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota.
• Sam Saman joins iMedia in May 2022 as, Director, Accounting. Mr. Saman will play an important role in supporting the various responsibilities within the controllership function. He has over 17 years of experience, including escalating financial roles at Deluxe Corporation and Michael Foods. Mr. Saman holds a Master in Business Administration in Finance from Florida Institute of Technology and a BS in Accounting from Winona State University.
• Brent LaFrenz recently joined iMedia as Director, Finance, Planning & Analysis. Mr. LaFrenz is a seasoned finance professional with over 15 years of expertise leading financial planning in matrixed organizations, including 14 years at UnitedHealth Group/Optum. Brent holds a Master of Business Administration from Colorado Technical University and a BA in Finance from Buena Vista University.

About iMedia Brands, Inc.
iMedia Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMBI) is a leading interactive media company capitalizing on the convergence of entertainment, ecommerce, and advertising. The company owns a growing, global portfolio of entertainment, consumer brands and media commerce services businesses that cross promote and exchange data with each other to optimize their consumer engagement experiences and to position the company as the leading single-source partner to television advertisers and consumer brands seeking to entertain and transact with customers.