Retail
Walmart
Walmart announced that American fashion designer Brandon Maxwell is collaborating with the retailer as creative director for Free Assembly and Scoop, its exclusive, elevated fashion brands.
This collaboration is a first for Walmart’s private brand apparel business, which has expanded its assortment to include on-trend and accessible fashion. In his role, Maxwell will be responsible for collection design and providing input into material selection, sourcing and production. He will also be involved in brand marketing initiatives and campaigns for both brands.
Maxwell will oversee four seasonal collections annually for Free Assembly and Scoop. He will start by influencing the Holiday 2021 collections before his full collections drop in Spring 2022. Launched in Fall 2020, Free Assembly is a modern, fashion essentials clothing brand that offers elevated style with a focus on thoughtful, simple design. Scoop, the well-known fashion boutique re-imagined as an affordable Walmart-exclusive brand in Fall 2019, is a trend-inspired fashion brand, featuring elevated details.
As a part of this partnership and his ongoing commitment to giving back to the community, Maxwell has also designed a line of face masks available exclusively at Walmart. Timed to this launch of Maxwell’s exclusive face masks, Walmart will donate $100,000 to DonorsChoose.org, a charity selected by Maxwell for its dedication to helping public school teachers get the funding they need for materials and experiences that will help their students learn.
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Tailored Brands
Tailored Brands Inc. announced that Dinesh Lathi will step down from his role as president and CEO, effective March 26.
Board members Bob Hull and Peter Sachse will act as interim co-CEOs while the board searches for a permanent successor.
In December, Tailored Brands successfully completed its Chapter 11 restructuring and earlier this month the company announced $75 million in new financing. After these events and with business performance beginning to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the board and Lathi mutually agreed that this is the right time to re-evaluate the skills and experiences needed in the CEO role as the company prepares for its next chapter of growth and success.
Tailored Brands is an omnichannel specialty retailer of men’s wear, including suits, formalwear and a broad selection of business casual offerings. Its brands include Men’s Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank, Moores Clothing for Men and K&G Fashion Superstore.
Ross Stores
Ross Stores Inc. announced changes to its board of directors.
The board expects to name George Orban as chairman and CEO Barbara Rentler as vice chair. These board leadership changes will become effective following the company’s annual stockholders meeting on May 19.
Michael Hartshorn, group president and chief operating officer, was elected to the board. Current chairman Michael Balmuth and chairman emeritus Norman Ferber will not be standing for re-election as directors. Balmuth and Ferber will have ongoing, active roles as senior advisors to the company.
Ross Stores, headquartered in Dublin, Calif., had fiscal 2020 revenues of $12.5 billion. The company operates Ross Dress for Less, with 1,589 locations in 40 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. The company also operates 277 dd’s Discounts units in 21 states.
L Brands
L Brands Inc. announced that Francis Hondal, president of loyalty and engagement at Mastercard, and Danielle Lee, chief fan officer for the National Basketball Association, were appointed as two new independent members of its board of directors.
Additionally, Les and Abigail Wexner will not stand for reelection to the board at the annual shareholders’ meeting in May. With these changes, in May the board will consist of 10 directors, nine of whom are independent and six of whom are women, including the chair.
Hondal is also a member of the Mastercard’s management committee and currently leads the development of products that enable exceptional consumer experiences through loyalty, rewards and performance-based marketing services for enterprises worldwide. She currently serves on the board of Equitable Holdings, a financial service holding company.
Prior to joining the NBA, Lee served for four years as global vice president for partner solutions at Spotify, where she was responsible for developing go-to-market strategy and growing global revenue across music, podcasts and high-impact digital experiences.
L Brands, through Bath & Body Works, Victoria’s Secret and Pink, operates 2,669 company-operated specialty stores in the United States, Canada and Greater China, in more than 700 franchised locations worldwide and through its websites worldwide.
Dollar General
Dollar General announced the planned retirement of Mike Kindy, the company’s executive vice president of global supply chain, effective April 15.
Kindy first joined Dollar General in 2008 as vice president of distribution and has served as executive vice president of global supply chain since 2018. Tony Zuazo will be promoted to executive vice president of global supply chain upon Mike Kindy’s retirement. Zuazo joined Dollar General in 2010 as senior director of inventory and planning systems and has held positions of increasing authority since that time, serving most recently as senior vice president of inventory and transportation.
In addition, Rod West was promoted to senior vice president, distribution. West joined Dollar General in 2005 as vice president of process improvement and has led initiatives in finance, merchandising, store operations and most recently in supply chain.
Dollar General operated 17,177 stores in 46 states as of Jan. 29.
Shoe Carnival
Shoe Carnival Inc. announced that its board of directors unanimously elected Mark Worden, the company’s president and chief customer officer, as its next president and CEO, effective Sept. 30.
Worden will succeed Cliff Sifford, who will step down as CEO at that time but will continue to serve in the role of vice chairman of the board. Sifford began his career with the company in 1997 and has served as CEO since 2012.
Under Sifford’s leadership, the company achieved many milestones, including growing revenues to over $1 billion and achieving 11 consecutive years of comparable store sales growth leading into fiscal 2020.
Worden joined the company in 2018 as its executive vice president and chief strategy and marketing officer and has served as the president and chief customer officer since 2019.
Shoe Carnival is one of the nation’s largest family footwear retailers, offering a broad assortment of moderately priced dress, casual and athletic footwear for men, women and children with emphasis on national name brands. As of March 18, the company operates 383 stores in 35 states and Puerto Rico and offers online shopping at shoecarnival.com.
Clarks
LionRock Capital, confirming the completion of its acquisition of Clarks, announces the appointment of Victor Herrero as executive chairman and CEO.
Giorgio Prescais is stepping down as CEO to pursue other opportunities.
Herroro is chairman of Bossini, non-executive director of Viva China Holdings Limited and up to now a non-executive director of Clarks. He was CEO of Guess Inc. between 2015 and 2019 and prior to that, he spent more than 12 years at Inditex, the parent company of Zara, holding several senior executive roles, most recently head of Asia Pacific and managing director of China.
Clarks operates retail, wholesale, franchise and online channels in over 100 markets worldwide.
Trade
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Katherine Tai was sworn in as the 19th United States Trade Representative (USTR).
Tai is the first Asian American and first woman of color confirmed to serve in the role. Tai previously served at the USTR office from 2007 to 2014, most recently as chief counsel for China Trade Enforcement with responsibility for the development and litigation of U.S. disputes against China at the World Trade Organization.
Tai is a trade lawyer who previously served as the chief lawyer on trade to the chairman and Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee. She succeeds Robert Lighthizer, who was USTR in the Trump administration.
OECD
The council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, composed of ambassadors representing the 37 member countries, appointed Mathias Cormann of Australia to become its sixth secretary-general for a five-year term beginning on June 1.
Cormann succeeds Angel Gurria, who held the post for 15 years. Cormann will become the first secretary-general from the Asia Pacific region. Cormann was until recently Australia’s longest-serving Finance Minister and leader of the government in the Australian Senate.
Born in Belgium, Cormann migrated to Australia in 1996. He has represented Australia in the OECD, G20, APEC, ASEAN and the World Economic Forum.
The OECD is an international organization that works to build better policies for better lives. Its goal is to shape policies that foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all.
Technology
Radial
Radial, which specializes in omnichannel commerce technology and operations, appointed Laura Ritchey as chief operating officer, reporting to CEO Ilias Simpson.
In her new role, Ritchey will draw on executive, retail experience to reinforce Radial’s commitment to client success. Prior to joining Radial, Ritchey held leadership positions at L Brands, FullBeauty and Centric Brands. Her experience spans various retailers, bringing a specialized insight to operational challenges.
In her new position, Ritchey will oversee Radial’s core lines of business comprised of fulfillment services, customer care, omnichannel technology and transportation.