Retail
Zappos
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has retired after 20 years leading the Amazon-owned company known for its vast selection of footwear, philanthropic initiatives and commitment to “Delivering Happiness,” which also serves as the title of the executive’s 2010 book examining the merchant’s customer-centric culture. Hsieh is expected to be succeeded by chief operating officer Kedar Deshpande.
Bloomingdale’s
Bloomingdale’s announced that Kelley Carter joined the company as home fashion director.
In her new role, Carter will lead trend forecasting and expand resources across Bloomingdale’s home department, including home textiles, housewares, tabletop, furniture and luggage categories. She reports to Kevin Harter, vice president of integrated marketing and fashion direction.
Carter has a background in editorial, interior styling and design. Throughout her career, she’s conceptualized and designed interior spaces for brand activations and the entertainment industry, in addition to prop styling for brand campaigns and market work for distinguished publications. Most recently, she consulted and created innovative content, images, and spaces for large-scale clients in the retail and apparel sectors.
Carter previously held editorial roles at O, the Oprah Magazine; O at Home; Real Simple and Refinery29.
Hibbett Sports
Hibbett Sports, a Birmingham, Ala.-based footwear and athleisure retailer with nearly 1,100 Hibbett Sports and City Gear stores nationwide, announced a newly formed field leadership team resulting from promotions, reassigned geographic territories and new hires, along with new strategic initiatives for better alignment and growth.
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The new leadership team led by industry veterans Mike Longo, president and CEO of Hibbett, and Ben Knighten, senior vice president of operations, is comprised of seven team members made up of six regional vice presidents (RVPs) and one vice president (VP) of operations for City Gear stores.
The newly appointed team consists of seven experienced leaders, including Schanen Anderson, RVP Southeast Region; Robby Bullington, RVP Central Region; Joe Fullerton, RVP East Region; Russell Hallman, RVP Midwest Region; Spencer Holt, RVP Western Region, andKandace Turner, RVP Southern Region and City Gear, as well as Derrick Hines, VP Operations. In their new or modified roles, the team will focus on prioritizing customer satisfaction and relationship building in person and online, implementing and reinforcing new training curriculum, and mentoring employees.
Dollar General
Dollar General Corp. promoted Kathy Reardon to executive vice president and chief people officer.
Reardon joined Dollar General in 2009 and has most recently served as senior vice president and chief people officer since March 2019. Reardon joined Dollar General as director of corporate human resources and during the past 11 years has gained leadership experience in corporate human resources, talent management and field human resources.
Prior to joining Dollar General, Reardon held positions of increasing responsibility at Carrier Corp. and Centex Homes.
Dollar General operated 16,720 stores in 46 states as of July 31.
National Retail Properties
The board of directors of National Retail Properties Inc., a real estate investment trust, appointed Stephen A. Horn Jr. as chief operating officer. He also retains the title of executive vice president (EVP).
Horn has served as EVP and chief acquisition officer of the company since 2014. During that time, he has overseen the acquisition of approximately $4.5 billion of new investment properties as the company’s portfolio grew to more than 3,100 properties.
Horn is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts and the International Council of Shopping Centers.
National Retail Properties invests primarily in high-quality retail properties subject generally to long-term, net leases. As of June 30, the company owned 3,117 properties in 48 states, with a gross leasable area of approximately 32.5 million square feet and with a weighted average remaining lease term of 10.9 years.
Brands
Peerless Clothing
Peerless Clothing International, a manufacturer of men’s tailored clothing, announced that Dan Orwig will take over as president on Sept. 14.
Orwig will be departing his current role as group president of men’s apparel for Itochu Prominent USA. Itochu has partnered with Peerless for many years on product development and supply-chain solutions. Orwig’s move will solidify the long-standing Peerless-Itochu relationship.
Orwig succeeds John Tighe, who left the company earlier this month.
Peerless Clothing International is one of the largest producers of men’s and boys’ tailored clothing in North America, supplying most major department and specialty stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Aqua Sphere
Aqua Sphere, a premier swimming and triathlon equipment brand, announced that World Champion triathlete Mirinda “Rinny” Carfrae was joining the team as a global brand ambassador.
As part of the Aqua Sphere team of athletes, Carfrae will train and compete utilizing the Aqua Sphere range of products from training equipment to performance swimsuits and goggles. Carfrae, a three-time Ironman World Champion, will help grow the brand globally alongside her husband and fellow World Champion triathlete, Timothy O’Donnell. Carfrae and O’Donnell are part of Aqua Sphere’s growing roster of elite athletes that also includes World Champion Terenzo Bozzone.
Aqua Sphere has tapped Carfrae to endorse its entire product portfolio, including eye protection, swimwear, triathlon wetsuits and speedsuits, and swim fitness and training accessories. She will also contribute her perspective and insight to future product innovations.
Sustainability
Higg Co
Higg Co, the technology company behind the Higg Index platform, a sustainability measurement framework for the footwear, apparel and textile industries, appointed ex-Microsoft executive Josh Henretig as the company’s new vice president of global partnerships.
Henretig joins the Higg Co executive team and will lead the company’s continued expansion through strategic partnerships.
A 17-year veteran of Microsoft, Henretig helped shape the sustainability agenda at the company, from its first public environmental commitments in 2008, to its announcement earlier this year to become “carbon negative.” In 2016 he developed and launched Microsoft’s AI for Earth program, a $50 million, five-year commitment focused on deploying Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence research and technology.
At Higg Co, Heneretig is responsible for developing new partnerships with key stakeholder organizations aligned with Higg Co’s mission and vision and identifying new collaboration and scale opportunities based on future product plans. His appointment is the second executive appointment at Higg Co this year. The SaaS company, which is incorporated as a public benefit organization, recently appointed former Nike executive Del Hudson as vice president of marketing and communications.
Higg Co is rapidly adding new customers to its user base of global manufacturers, brands and retailers. It has enabled completion of more than 20,000 factory assessments in 80-plus countries and now employs more than 60 people.
The Higg Index is a suite of tools that enables brands, retailers and facilities of all sizes and at every stage in their sustainability journey to accurately measure and score a company or product’s sustainability performance.
Textiles
Malouf
Malouf has added two new warehouse managers to its distribution team to oversee the logistics of its new warehouse in Delano, Calif.
Marsha Cooper and Marcos Herrera will combine their expertise to help bolster the company’s distribution capabilities. Cooper has more than 25 years of experience in logistics management. She started at Sears Logistics as an associate and then worked her way to an area manager, and eventually, senior manager of operations.
Herrera has worked in logistics operations for more than 20 years with experience in inventory management and order fulfillment.
As part of their new responsibilities, Cooper and Herrera are focused on staffing needs and training employees on product types, safety protocols, and proper procedures for handling merchandise and receiving, processing and shipping orders.
Malouf acquired the 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse building in June. The company is working on maintenance updates and other improvements to prepare the facility for operations at the beginning of 2021. Malouf offers a wide range of innovative products, including mattresses, adjustable bed bases, furniture, pillows, sheets, mattress protectors, bed frames and mattress toppers. Malouf™ products are available in over 15,000 retail partner locations in the U.S. and its growing international team now serves over 25 countries.
Casper
Casper Sleep Inc. appointed Michael Monahan as chief financial officer (CFO), effective Aug. 31. Casper also announced that its interim CFO, Stuart Brown, has resigned, also effective Aug. 31, but will continue to support the company as a consultant during the transition period.
Most recently, Monahan served as CFO of Hexo Corp. and prior to that he was CFO of Nutrisystem Inc.
Casper has a full portfolio of engineered sleep products, including mattresses, pillows, bedding, and furniture, designed in-house at Casper Labs in San Francisco. In addition to its e-commerce business, Casper owns and operates Sleep Shops across North America and its products are available at a growing list of retailers.
Logistics
UPS
UPS appointed Nando Cesarone as president of U.S. operations and Scott Price as president of UPS International.
Cesarone previously served as president of UPS International and in that role led the company’s business operations in more than 220 countries and territories outside of the U.S. Prior to that, he served as president of UPS’s European operations, leading UPS Europe to record business performance during the company’s five-year investment program.
Cesarone will now also be able to take his extensive international experience to drive greater cross-border success for U.S. customers expanding into overseas markets. He succeeds George Willis, who has chosen to retire for personal and family reasons. Willis served in a series of roles of increasing responsibility over the course of his successful 36-year career at the company.
In leading UPS International, Price will bring the global operational perspectives he has gained from being responsible for strategic planning, Global Business Services and the company’s Advanced Technology Group, as well as having lived and worked abroad in Europe and Asia for most of his career.
Prior to UPS, Price served as executive vice president of global leverage for Walmart International and president and CEO of Walmart Asia.
Emerge
Emerge announced that George Abernathy, president at FreightWaves, was appointed as a new board member.
At FreightWaves, Abernathy has responsibility for all revenue and commercial efforts, including SaaS, Media, and membership engagements. Prior to his nearly three years at FreightWaves, he was president of Transplace and held leadership roles at J.B. Hunt, Logistics.com and Sabre Logistics.
The Emerge platform extends shipper accessibility to capacity and provides rates from current incumbents, vetted carriers and brokers and open backhaul capacity from private and dedicated fleets. Launched in 2017, Emerge is backed by Greycroft, New Road Capital, 9Yards Capital and the founder of GlobalTranz.