International Business

Dayton, Ohio -- Interbrand, a leading global brand consultancy, announced Wednesday that Lee Carpenter is leaving his current position as CEO of the North America region. Carpenter, CEO of Interbrand North America since 2007, will step down from his full-time role, effective July 23. He will continue to advise Interbrand during the next three months, but has decided to focus his attention on other personal opportunities.   

Leading brand consultancy Interbrand named Josh Feldmeth CEO to succeed Lee Carpenter who is leaving the firm after 12 years.

In his role as CEO of Interbrand North America, Feldmeth will be based in New York and oversee the company’s New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Dayton, Cincinnati and BrandWizard offices. Feldmeth previously served as CEO of Interbrand’s New York, San Francisco and Toronto offices. He will report to Interbrand’s global CEO Jez Frampton.

Whirlpool Corporation reported net sales of about $4.7 billion in the second quarter of 2014, virtually unchanged from the company's performance in the same quarter last year.

Net sales for the three months ended June 30 totaled $4.68 billion, down 1.4% from $4.75 billion in 2013.

The company's bottom line read $179 million for the quarter, down from $198 million in the second quarter of last year.

Seattle – Starbucks is opening three new stores in Hanoi, Vietnam. The stores will add to Starbucks’ established Vietnam presence of eight stores in Ho Chi Minh City.

Starbucks opened the first of the three stores on July 23. All three will be located near shopping malls or office buildings. Starbucks is not publicly saying how many stores in Vietnam it ultimately plans to open. The company first entered the Vietnamese market in 2013.

Dallas - On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, has appointed Ward Whitworth as president of On The Border. The move follows the resignation of On The Border CEO Steve Clark, who has committed to stay on for a period of time in order to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership.

Timberland has elevated Stewart Whitney to brand president, effective Oct. 5. Whitney, who has led Timberland’s growth in the Asia Pacific region since 2008, will report to Patrik Frisk, who has held the position since the brand’s 2011 acquisition by VF Corporation and was promoted to coalition president, Outdoor Americas for VF, in April.

San Jose, Calif. – EBay Inc. is still planning to expand its operations in Russia despite U.S. sanctions against the country’s government. In public comments made in Moscow, EBay VP Wendy Jones said Russia is EBay’s top priority for expansion of its EBay Marketplaces division, and that eBay Marketplaces should go live in Russia in September.

Jones also said EBay doubled its Russian buyer base in 2013 and sold $425 million worth of goods there in 2012. Currently, Russian consumers make 90,000 EBay transactions per day.

Charlotte, N.C. will be home to the new global headquarters of Sealed Air Corp., as the global packaging company opens a state-of-the art, environmentally-sustainable campus to house its research and development facilities and corporate offices.

The $7.7 billion company said over the course of the next three years it will relocated roughly 1,300 jobs to North Carolina from its existing headquarters in Elmwood Park, N.J., and other facilities nationwide. Sealed Air employs roughly 25,000 people and is known for brands such as Cryovac, Bubble Wrap and Diversey.