Finance & Capital Management

Tewksbury, Mass. – Demoulas Super Markets Inc., parent company of the Market Basket grocery chain, has reportedly fired some employees in the wake of inventory problems during the weekend of July 19-20. According to the Boston Globe, several managers were fired the evening of Sunday, July 20 after the company noticed thinning inventories of perishable items.

Boca Raton, Fla. – Office Depot Inc. has named retail veteran Mark Cosby as president, North America. Cosby, 55, most recently served as president of pharmacy at CVS Caremark. He will be a member of Office Depot’s executive committee and leadership team and report to Roland Smith, chairman and CEO of Office Depot.

Cosby joins Office Depot following a 30-year career at a number of leading retail chains. Prior to CVS, Cosby spent five years at Macy’s Inc., where he served in a number of executive roles, including president, stores.

New York - Michael J. Kowalski, CEO of Tiffany and Co., will retire from the company effective March 31, 2015. Kowalski, who has been with Tiffany for 30 years and a member of the company’s board of directors since 1995, will continue to serve on the board in the role of non-executive chairman.

Tiffany has named Frederic Cumenal, currently the company’s president, to succeed Kowalski as CEO effective April 1, 2015. Kowalski, 62, joined Tiffany in 1983, became CEO in 1999 and assumed the role of chairman of the board in 2003.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has reportedly invested $103 million in its Indian operations with the goals of expanding its wholesale store count and increasing its online presence there. According to the Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart intends to increase wholesale store base in India from the current 20 to 70 in the next five years.

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Stores opened 23 Ross Dress for Less stores and seven DD’s Discounts locations across 17 states in June and July. These new locations are part of the retailer's plans to add a total of approximately 75 Ross and 20 DD’s Discounts stores during 2014.

Ross believes that future growth opportunities include almost doubling its store count from its current 1,194 stores to 2,000 stores, and also growing DD’s Discounts from 144 stores to 500 stores.

Toronto - Loblaw Companies Ltd., owner of the Joe Fresh brand, has promoted Mario Grauso to president of Joe Fresh. He was previously COO of the brand.

In his new role, Grauso oversees business strategy, operations, marketing, international development, merchandising, sourcing and design functions at Joe Fresh.

Mahwah, N.J. - Dirk Montgomery, executive VP and CFO of Ascena Retail Group Inc. since January 2013, has accepted a position with a healthcare-related company based in Florida. Ascena has initiated a search process for a new CFO.

Montgomery has agreed to remain through the end of the summer. Randy Pearce, a member of Ascena’s board of directors, chair of the Audit Committee, and former CFO of Regis Corp. from 1998 to 2011, will increase his involvement in overseeing the company’s finance department during the transition.

Stamford, Conn. -- General Electric is spinning off its Synchrony Financial consumer credit business in an initial public offering (IPO) and seeking a market valuation as high as $22 billion. Synchrony offers store credit cards for retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and J.C. Penney Co.

Dublin, Calif. -- Ross Dress for Less opened two new stores in the Pacific Northwest on July 19. The stores opening are in Columbia Crossing in East Vancouver, Washington, and Pioneer Crossing in Bend, Oregon.    

These new openings are part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year.

Former CVS, Macys and Sears executive Mark Cosby has a new role at Office Depot where he will serve as president of the company’s North American business.