Peter Thorner is a well-known business strategist and turnaround executive.  He assumed the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bradlees, Inc., following significant management upheaval and a period of unbridled operating losses. During the ensuing twenty-six months, he presided over the successful reorganization of one of the nation’s leading regional discount department store chains with 105 stores in seven states and total annual sales of $1.6 billion. He assumed the CEO role in 1996 and restored the company to profitability after a four-year period of consecutive operating losses.  Following a period of economic recession in 2000, with the support of the Company’s Board of Directors, he chose to liquidate the company rather than continue to incur operational losses that would have diminished the ultimate recovery of stakeholders.  He personally oversaw the liquidation of that company to maximize returns to creditors and to date distributions to unsecured creditors have amounted to 40% of their claims and have exceeded initial recovery estimates by over 200%.

A noted turnaround executive before joining Bradlees, Thorner served as President, Chief Operating Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer of Ames Department Stores, Inc., a regional discount department store chain with approximately 300 stores and annual sales of $3.0 billion.  He is credited with developing strategic initiatives that culminated in his leading this discount store chain out of bankruptcy in 1992 following an almost three- year period of failed business strategies. Through his leadership he was able to rebuild a strong management team whose combined efforts restored the Company to profitability for the first time in 5 years. Numerous press articles have lauded his candor and open disclosure policies and credit the support he received from suppliers to the transparency of information regarding the progress of the company’s financial and operational restructuring.

Prior to joining Ames, Thorner was Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of Wheelabrator Technologies, Inc. He was a significant participant in that company’s initial public offering and its growth over the ensuing three years through its subsequent acquisition by Waste Management. He also served as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Administration Officer of Rapid-American Corporation; Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ogden Corporation; and a Partner with Deloitte Haskins & Sells (Deloitte & Touche), where he was a designated industry specialist for Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Services, Government Procurement, Maritime Transportation and Tax–Advantaged Leasing.

Thorner holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from City University of New York, (Brooklyn College) and is a non-practicing Certified Public Accountant in New York and Louisiana.  He is the past Chairman of the Board of Advisors of “Clear Thinking Group”, a strategic business consulting firm specializing in retail operations, merchandising and supply chain management and is the past Chairman of VITAM Youth Treatment Center in Connecticut, a facility devoted to the rehabilitation of teenage substance abusers. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Retail Federation and the International Mass Retailers Association. Since October 2004 he has served as a director of Friedman’s Inc., a jewelry retailer operating approximately 600 stores. In 1999 in recognition of his success at resuscitating two public companies, he was inducted into the Business and Industry Hall of Fame of The American Institute of CPA’s. Thorner is a frequent speaker on business strategy and corporate restructuring and has been a guest lecturer at the graduate business schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloane School), Cornell, Yale and Columbia Universities.