Labor & Employment

Hingham, Mass. -- The Talbots said Thursday it has named Lesli Gilbert as senior VP stores, effective June 27.

Gilbert will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Talbots core retail operations in the United States and Canada, as well as supporting the implementation of the company’s store reimage and rationalization programs. She will report to president and CEO Trudy F. Sullivan.

Gilbert was most recently regional VP East for T-Mobile USA, and, prior to that, was senior director of sales and customer experience at Gap.

Bangalore, India -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Wal-Mart Stores, in its joint venture with Indian company Bharti Enterprises, plans to triple its wholesale outlet locations in India this year.

The report comes as Wal-Mart and other foreign retailers have been blocked from opening retail outlets in India, and are permitted only to set up wholesale locations.

Hartford, Conn. -- RBS recently completed a $20 million senior credit facility for FM Global Holdings (FM Facility Maintenance). The proceeds will be used to provide working capital for growth and acquisition financing.

Austin, Texas -- Whole Foods Market announced the addition of Blake W. Nordstrom to the company's board of directors, increasing the size of the board to 12 members. He will serve on the audit committee.

Nordstrom, 50, has been president of Nordstrom since 2000 and has served as a member of the company's board of directors since 2005.
 

In the May 26 edition of SiteTalk, we asked the question, "Did you attend RECon 2011 in Las Vegas this week? If so, what was your key takeaway from the show?"  This is what several readers had to say:

Sydney Rosen, former chairman of Rose Art Industries and a toy industry veteran, died on June 2 at the age of 94. 

Rosen's career in the toy industry began when he went to work for his father's company, Rosebud Art, following a medical discharge from the army. Rosen's father Isidor was an artist and lithographer by trade, creating children’s toys and arts and craft sets, games and puzzles, and eventually Sydney and his brother Irving took over the business themselves as Isidor retired.  Ultimately Rosen bought his brother’s share.

Indianapolis -- Commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates announced the addition of Robyn Smart as a senior advisor of the Indianapolis office.

Smart specializes in tenant representation, site acquisition and landlord representation. In her new role, Smart will be responsible for all aspects of retail brokerage.

Prior to joining Lee & Associates, Smart most recently served as an advisor for CB Richard Ellis.
 

HINGHAM, Mass. — Talbots reported that first quarter income from continuing operations was $0.9 million, or 1 cent per share, compared with last year’s loss from continuing operations of $7.1 million, or 12 cents per share.