Retail
Walmart
Marc Lore notified Walmart Inc. of his intent to retire from his position of executive vice president of the company, and president and CEO of U.S. e-commerce, effective Jan. 31.
Lore will continue to serve in a consulting role as a strategic advisor to the company through September. He joined the company in September 2016 in connection with Walmart’s acquisition of Jet.com Inc., where he was the founder and CEO.
Following the Jet.com transaction, Walmart unified the Jet.com team with Walmart.com. Over the past couple of years, Walmart noted that it also unified its store and e-commerce teams. That was completed in 2020, with the Walmart U.S. segment operating as an omnichannel business.
After Lore retires, the U.S. business, including all the aspects of retail e-commerce, will continue to report to John Furner, executive vice president of Walmart, and president and CEO of Walmart U.S., beginning on Feb. 1.
Ashley Stewart
Ashley Stewart, a fashion retailer of apparel, intimates and accessories for women sizes 10 to 36, announced that Gary Sheinbaum joined the company as CEO.
Sheinbaum joins Ashley Stewart after over 25 years at Tommy Hilfiger and PVH Corp., where he was most recently CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Americas. He was named CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Americas in September 2014. In this role, he led the North American business and oversaw Tommy Hilfiger’s Latin America operations.
Prior to joining PVH, Sheinbaum was president of J.Crew Retail for five years.
ICSC
The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) announced that veteran retail and real estate industry executive Valerie Richardson will join the organization as chief operating officer.
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Reporting directly to president and CEO Tom McGee, Richardson will oversee day-to-day administrative and operational functions of ICSC focusing on membership and volunteer engagement and ICSC’s portfolio of programs and services.
Most recently as vice president of real estate for The Container Store, Richardson was responsible for site evaluation and lease negotiation, as well as store design coordination and construction for The Container Store’s nationwide store expansion program.
H&M
Andreas Eriksson, head of media relations for H&M Group, will take on the role of communications director, succeeding Kristina Stenvinkel.
Eriksson has extensive experience within communications and leadership from his previous roles as communications director at UNICEF Sweden and managing director at Patriksson Group.
Stenvinkel will join Ramsbury, the Persson family’s private company, as communications advisor. She will also be communications advisor to CEO Helena Helmersson and the H&M group in selected assignments.
Iñigo Sáenz Maestre, currently senior press officer in H&M Group’s media relations team, will succeed Eriksson.
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters Inc. announced that Trish Donnelly, CEO of the Urban Outfitters Group, will be leaving the company as of Jan. 31 to pursue a new career opportunity.
The company said Sheila Harrington will become CEO for Urban Outfitters Group and Free People Group. In addition, Gabrielle Conforti, currently the chief merchandising officer for the Urban Outfitters brand, was promoted to president of Urban Outfitters North America, and Emma Wisden will continue as managing director, Urban Outfitters Europe, and will lead the Urban Outfitters brand wholesale business.
Conforti and Wisden will both report to Harrington.
Urban Outfitters Inc., offers lifestyle-oriented general merchandise and consumer products and services through a portfolio of global consumer brands comprised of 250 Urban Outfitters stores in the United States, Canada and Europe and websites; 236 Anthropologie Group stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, catalogs and websites; 149 Free People stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, and catalogs and websites; 11 Menus & Venues restaurants and 1 Urban Outfitters franchisee-owned store, as of Dec. 31.
Free People and Urban Outfitters wholesale sell their products through approximately 2,300 department and specialty stores worldwide, digital businesses and the company’s retail segment.
Brands
Columbia Sportswear
Columbia Sportswear Company appointed Tim Sheerin as senior vice president of U.S. sales for the Columbia brand.
In his new role, Sheerin will report to Franco Fogliato, executive vice president of global omnichannel. Prior in joining Columbia, Sheerin spent 20 years in various senior-level sales and strategy roles at Nike. In his most recent role as vice president of North America sales, he led Nike’s wholesale business across Nike and Jordan brands, supporting all product lines and categories for North America.
Canada Goose
Canada Goose appointed Michael D. Armstrong, executive vice president of ViacomCBS, to the Canada Goose board of directors as an independent director, and appointed Scott Cameron as president of Asia-Pacific (APAC), effective April 1.
Armstrong previously served as general manager of BET Networks and is on the board of PRX, a non-profit media company specializing in audio journalism and storytelling.
Cameron joined Canada Goose in 2016 as chief strategy and business development officer and most recently served as president of the Greater China region. In his new role, he will oversee all marketing and commercial activity within the expanded APAC region, which includes Greater China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
LA Gear
LA Gear announced the appointment of artist and designer Alexander-John as its new creative director.
LA Gear said Alexander-John will kick off his new position with the launch of “Light the Way,” his first women’s capsule collection. The limited-edition line launched Thursday exclusively on NTWRK, the Gen Z-friendly content and commerce platform.
Alexander-John started hand painting and engraving sneakers in 2004, having his work worn by Usher, Chris Brown, Caron Butler, Drew Gooden and Busta Rhymes. In 2012, he custom designed footwear for Jay Z, Beyonce, Emory Jones, Google, Microsoft and Nickelodeon. Since then, Alexander-John has designed exclusive sneakers for Puma, Nike, Adidas and Reebok.
Hari
Premium sandal brand Hari announced the addition of longtime board member Jake Szczepanski to the company’s management team as president of Hari Mari to help spearhead the brand’s continued growth.
In his new role at Hari Mari, Szczepanski will help scale and manage the company’s internal operations and supply chain to keep pace with the brand’s rapid growth trajectory, while also overseeing development and creation of the brand’s own premium apparel line, launching this spring.
He joins Hari Mari after co-founding and serving as CEO of Billy Reid for 13 years, helping to build the high-end men’s and women’s wear. Szczepanski has designs and plans underway to launch Hari Mari’s first apparel collection in April.
Carbitex
Carbitex, makers of responsive flexible carbon fiber composites utilized in performance footwear applications, added to its leadership team, naming Erika Canfield as vice president of global marketing and Clark Morgan as director of global footwear business development.
Canfield brings an extensive background in the outdoor industry following executive marketing roles at Outdoor Research and as creative director for PMI Worldwide overseeing the Stanley and Aladdin brands. Clark spent the previous eight years at BOA Technology Inc., where he drove prototyping and innovation of the BOA Fit System across the company’s portfolio of industries.
Carbitex, based in Kennewick, Wash., is focused on the performance footwear market and partners with top brands like Adidas, Scott, DC Shoes and Lake Cycling to bring stability and mobility, responsiveness and comfort to their customers.
Technology
Zebra Technologies
Zebra Technologies Corp. named Nathan Winters as chief financial officer.
Joining Zebra in 2018, Winters was previously the company’s vice president of corporate financial planning and analysis and business operations.
Zebra empowers the front line in retail/e-commerce, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, healthcare, public sector and other industries to achieve a performance edge. With more than 10,000 partners across 100 countries, the company’s solutions elevate the shopping experience, track and manage inventory, and improve supply chain efficiency.
Stylitics
Stylitics, an AI-powered visual merchandising and outfit recommendation platform, announced the addition of Dan Schultze as vice president of product.
Schultze will drive Stylitics’ development of next-generation digital merchandising and shopping experiences for consumer brands and retailers. He joins the company from the Girls Scouts of America, where he was vice president of product and digital innovation and led the organization’s substantial strategic investment in technology and the development of digitized experiences at scale.
Stylitics works with more than 100 brands, including Ann Taylor, Bloomingdale’s, Banana Republic, Chico’s, Gap, Hanna Andersson, Kohl’s, Loft, Macy’s, Puma and White House Black Market.