Labor & Employment

MEMPHIS — Regional discounter Fred’s made good on its promise of a year ago to further expand a new merchandising initiative, but an intensely competitive market made fourth-quarter sales tough to come by.

New York -- Commercial real estate firm MPI announced the promotion of Andrea Olshan to CEO.

Michael Makinen has been promoted to COO and Ryan Guheen has been named senior VP asset management.

Prior to the appointment of CEO, Olshan served as MPI's COO and was responsible for the operations of the company portfolio, investment activity and external fund investments. She replaces David Lukes, who saw MPI through the reorganization of its corporate offices and senior staff.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation has named Ellen Davis SVP and executive director of the NRF Foundation, the education and research arm of NRF.

All retailers want to be perceived as great places to work and build a career as it aids in recruitment and retention of employees in an industry where costs associated with notoriously high rates of turnover cause a drag on performance.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Holdings announced that David Lukes has joined the company in its real estate business unit as president real estate development. Lukes comes to Sears Holdings from Mall Properties Inc. where he served as president and CEO of the privately owned $3 billion real estate firm. 

Cincinnati -- Kroger announced that Tim Brown now will be responsible for stores in western Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Missouri, as president of the company's Delta division.

Brown, 52, has been VP operations in the company's Delta division, based in Roanoke, Va., since 2011. Before that, he served as the Mid-Atlantic division's VP merchandising since 2009.
 

Dallas -- Davaco announced that it has promoted Tim Currier to VP operations.

In this role, Currier will oversee the company’s restaurant division and provide oversight of project management and field execution teams.

Currier, who was most recently director of operations for Davaco, will report to Mike Murray, senior VP operations.
 

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. announced Tuesday that it has named David Lukes as president, real estate development for the company.

Lukes was previously president and CEO of real estate firm Mall Properties.

Lukes has been charged with leading Sears’ efforts to further develop its real estate assets, including those that are now non-retail.