Brown Shoe Appoints Peggy Reilly Tharp Vice President-Investor Relations

ST. LOUIS, May 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE: BWS) (www.brownshoe.com) has appointed Peggy Reilly Tharp to the position of vice president-investor relations as it looks to refine its approach to communicating with the investment and analyst community.

"Peggy's extensive background in investor relations will be an asset to the company as we work to emphasize our focus on long-term growth prospects and key metrics.  Her proven experience developing strategic investor relations outreach plans will be invaluable, as we refine and further improve our messaging," said Brown Shoe chief financial officer Mark Hood.

Tharp brings to Brown Shoe extensive experience working with both the buy- and the sell-side, most recently as senior director of investor relations for Savvis, a cloud infrastructure provider.  Prior to that, Tharp was director of investor relations for Superior Essex, a copper wire and cable producer. During her tenure there, she clarified investor and corporate messaging, resulting in significant improvement in brand recognition. Tharp has also held several investor relations and business communications positions with Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewer.

Tharp holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations and Advertising from Bradley University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from Washington University's Olin School of Business.

About Brown Shoe Company, Inc.

Brown Shoe is a $2.7 billion global footwear company.  Brown Shoe's Retail division operates Famous Footwear, a leading family branded footwear destination with over 1,100 stores nationwide and e-commerce site FamousFootwear.com, approximately 260 specialty retail stores in the U.S., Canada, and China primarily under the Naturalizer brand name, and footwear e-tailer shoes.com. Through its wholesale divisions, Brown Shoe designs and markets leading fashion and athletic footwear brands including Naturalizer, Dr. Scholl's, LifeStride, Sam Edelman, Franco Sarto, Via Spiga, Etienne Aigner, Vera Wang Lavender, Avia, ryka, AND 1, and Buster Brown.  Brown Shoe press releases are available on the Company's website at www.brownshoe.com.

SOURCE Brown Shoe Company, Inc.