Labor & Employment

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has appointed Karen Cate as CFO and Jeff Schroeder as VP of operations.

Cate was the VP, controller of Trader Joe's Company, where she was responsible for the integrity of financial processes and reporting for the retail grocery store, warehouses and distribution operations. She has also held financial management positions for Sun Microsystems, Nestlé USA and Avery Dennison Corporation.

Hong Kong - Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. has named Cathy Marie Robinson as senior VP, global operations effective. Robinson has 24 years’ experience in operations, logistics and supply chain management at various retail companies, and since 2012 was senior VP, chief logistics officer at Toys “R” Us.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop said that Michael Shaffer has been appointed to the company’s board of directors.

Shaffer, 51, will serve as chairman of the audit committee and a member of the nominating and corporate governance committee. He is executive VP, COO and CFO for New York-based PVH Corp. where he oversees the retail division, treasury, corporate finance, information technology, and logistics services.

Ralph Lauren’s executive vice chairman Roger Farah plans to leave the company at the end of the month. Farah will remain on the board of directors until the expiration of his term on the date of the company’s 2014 annual meeting of stockholders in August.

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. has secured a 743,000-sq.-ft. lease for a direct-to-consumer fulfillment center in West Jefferson, Ohio, with E Smith Realty Partners. The new e-commerce facility is expected to be fully operational and begin shipping orders by spring 2015.

McCormick & Company has named Brendan Foley as president of U.S. consumer effective June 2. Foley will lead the largest business unit for McCormick and will report directly to president of global consumer and CAO Lawrence Kurzius.

Freeport, Maine – L.L.Bean Inc. has appointed two new independent directors to its corporate board. The new board members are Matthew Moellering, executive VP and CEO of Express Inc., and Hugh Farrington, former president and CEO of Hannaford Brothers Company.

Fort Worth, Texas – RadioShack Corp. is scaling back its plans to close 1,100 stores. In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the retailer said its lenders are offering unacceptable terms for RadioShack to proceed with that many store closures. However, the company will still shutter a number of locations as part of its turnaround plan.