International Business

Ace Hardware Corp. has promoted a 25-year employee to the position of vice president of information technology. 

Dallas - Donald T. Grimes will be joining Neiman Marcus Group as executive VP, COO and CFO. Grimes will succeed Jim Skinner, who will continue to be part of the company’s management team in the newly created role of vice chairman, Neiman Marcus Group.

Vernon, Calif. - True Religion Apparel Inc. has named John Ermatinger CEO, effective immediately. Current CEO David Conn is stepping down.

Ermatinger has been serving as True Religion’s interim senior VP of global sourcing and production will build on the strategic initiatives that have been implemented since TowerBrook’s acquisition in July 2013 and will guide the company into its next phase of development.

Washington, D.C. - The National Retail Federation (NRF) is hiring Mark Mathews as VP of research development and industry analysis. Mathews will develop, evaluate and direct research initiatives for NRF’s Retail Research and Analysis Center, which was announced in April.

Mathews brings more than two decades of research strategy and management experience to his new post.

The architect of the reinvention of Domino's Pizza will become the next CEO of Toys"R"Us in July.

David A. Brandon will succeed Antonio Urcelay, as he is retiring from the company.

Brandon, 63, has deep experience in growing businesses, developing talent and building high-performance cultures that enable organizations to create and capture value.

A Wolverine World Wide executive is joining the Neiman Marcus Group as executive VP, COO and CFO.

Saks Fifth Avenue will be soaring to new heights with an unprecedented promotional event at its flagship store in New York City this month.

Sixteen dancers from the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School in Florida will be performing live in the windows of the store on Fifth Avenue on June 6 and June 7.

Chicago -- Retailers looking for opportunities in emerging markets should look East, particularly to China, which ranks as the top country in A.T. Kearney’s annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI). China, which returns to number one in the GRDI rankings for the first time since 2010, is expected to surpass the United States as the world's largest retail market by 2018.

Deerfield, Ill. – Walgreens Boots Alliance plans to keep its headquarters in the U.S. and never went beyond the consideration stage of moving operations outside the U.S. in an “inversion” to reduce corporate taxes. At  the Walgreens annual shareholder meeting May 28, Walgreens chairman James Skinner said Walgreens headquarters will remain in Deerfield, Illinois.