Rhoda pitcher biography

A long-serving board member of the popular women’s activewear retailer Lululemon Athletica has stepped down — just weeks after questions were raised over her résumé.

Rhoda Pitcher, 61, on the company’s board since 2005, two years before it went public, exited to “pursue other opportunities,” the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

Pitcher, Lululemon’s longest-serving board member, claimed she had a master’s degree from “University Associates” — but attempts to verify the degree were unsuccessful, according to a report.

Also, Pitcher never listed an undergraduate degree, according to the report on TheStreet.com, which first inquired into Pitcher’s past.

Requests to interview Pitcher were denied and questions about her past went unanswered, the report said.

In fact, TheStreet had so much difficulty assembling a credible bio of the director it wound up asking in a June 17 headline: “Is Lululemon board member Rhoda Pitcher real or a ghost?”

Lululemon said her exit was “not due to any disagreements with us on any of our operations, policies or practices.”

Founder Chip Wilson, who remains Lululemon’s largest shareholder despite leaving the company in 2015, incited interest in the director on June 15 by blaming “long-standing board members” for the chain’s troubles.

Wilson, who aired his complaint on CNBC, didn’t single out Pitcher in particular.

But her reluctance to explain away the growing mystery around her added to the fears fanned by Wilson about company governance.

Of course, board members and executives with falsified résumés can prove disastrous.

On May 3, 2012, hedge fund investor Dan Loeb discovered Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson did not have the degree in computer science he claimed he had.

Thompson was gone 10 days later.

“When the qualifications of a board member becomes a public story, especially when amplified through the business media, shareholders start worrying,” said Francis Byrd, the founder of Byrd Governance Advisory.

Byrd added that this transparency-above-all mandate may not appeal to long-standing directors who weren’t subjected to such scrutiny in earlier years.

Pitcher enjoyed a smooth ride at Lululemon until 2013, when a major recall of “too sheer” yoga pants and Wilson’s misguided critique of Lululemon’s primary customer — “some women’s bodies just actually don’t work” with the brand, he said during a TV interview — put the company in crisis mode.

“When something like that happens, it’s no longer enough to have a three-sentence bio in a proxy statement,” Byrd said of companies under stress.

Lululemon shares fell 1 percent Tuesday, to close at $77.74.