Diversity & Inclusion

Stanley Black & Decker has added Debra Crew, president of PepsiCo Americas Beverages, to its board of directors. Crew joined PepsiCo in 2010 as president of the western region of PepsiCo Europe, and was promoted in 2012.

Prior to PepsiCo, she held a number of management and leadership roles at Mars, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream and Kraft Foods.

The Clarks Group, the company behind the Clarks and Bostonian brands that sells more than 50 million pairs of shoes annually, has named a new chairman.

The privately held United Kingdom-based company, which operates specialty footwear stores in the U.S. and worldwide, elevated Thomas O’Neill to the role of chairman from his position as a non-executive director on the board. He fills a position previously held by Peter Davies to lead the world’s number one non-athletic footwear brand with annual sales of roughly $2.4 billion and a presence in 100 markets.

Newell Rubbermaid has named Paula S. Larson as EVP and chief human resources officer, effective Dec. 16. She succeeds James M. Sweet, who is retiring after nearly a decade of leading the company’s transformation efforts.

Oak Brook, Ill. -- The Inland Real Estate Group of Cos. has been named the recipient of the 2014 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics by the Better Business Bureau.

The award was presented at the 17th Annual BBB Awards Luncheon Ceremony at the InterContinental Hotel in Rosemont, Ill.  

This is the second Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics that Inland has received from the BBB. The company was presented with its first Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics in 2009. Last year’s winner was The Boeing Co.

Newport Beach, Calif. -- Engaged Capital, an investment firm specializing in small and mid-cap North American equities and beneficial owner of approximately 400,000 shares of the common stock of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. sent a letter to the company’s board of directors on Dec. 3. In its letter, Engaged Capital highlighted the upcoming expiration of Abercrombie chairman and CEO Michael Jeffries’ employment contract on February 1, 2014 as an opportunity for the board to set a new direction for the company.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- MinuteClinic, a division of CVS Caremark Corporation, has expanded to its 28th state with the opening of clinic locations inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in New Hampshire. Clinics are now open in Concord and West Lebanon.  

Williamsville, N.Y. -- Tops Friendly Markets, a leading full-service grocery retailer in upstate New York, Northern Pennsylvania, and Western Vermont, announced that the previously announced acquisition of Tops Holding II by a group of senior managers of the company led by Tops president and CEO, Frank Curci, closed on Dec. 1.