Labor & Employment

Hong Kong -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is changing the management structure of its Asia operation with a series of promotions. Scott Price, currently president and CEO of Walmart Asia, will move to a senior management role as executive VP, international strategy and development, real estate, mergers and acquisitions, integration and purchase leverage, based at Wal-Mart's world headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.

The challenges for a small/medium CPG company today, competing against the multibillion dollar conglomerates, are greater than ever before. With the skyrocketing cost of freight, manufacturing, raw materials, sales and marketing, the small/medium CPG company does not enjoy any of the economies of scale that the established multi nationals do. Competing in the low margin highly competitive beverage category, as we do at Celsius, only accentuates the challenge.

Washington, D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a former executive with insider trading in advance of EBay’s acquisition of the e-commerce company GSI Commerce where he worked, by tipping friends and relatives with confidential information about the pending deal so they could attain more than $300,000 in illegal profits.

Corte Madera, Calif. -- Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc. has named Dr. Leonard Schlesinger to its board of directors. He will also serve as the chairman of the board’s compensation committee.

Schlesinger has held executive leadership positions at various retail and consumer brands, including vice chairman and COO of Limited Brands from 1999 to 2007, and has served for more than 20 years as a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and previously served as the president of Babson College.

The Wet Seal is winding down its Arden B brand. Arden B currently operates 54 mall-based stores and an e-commerce site. In the fiscal year ended Feb. 1, the brand generated net sales of $60.4 million and represented 11% of consolidated net sales.

“This was a difficult decision that followed a comprehensive review of the business and market dynamics. We would like to thank all of our Arden B team members for their hard work and dedication to the brand, and also extend our gratitude to our loyal customers,” said CEO John D. Goodman.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. - The Wet Seal Inc. will begin winding down its Arden B brand. Arden B currently operates 54 mall-based stores and an e-commerce website.

Jacksonville, Fla. – The board of directors of Stein Mart Inc. has created the office of the president and have appointed D. Hunt Hawkins and Brian R. Morrow to share that office. Both will continue to report to Jay Stein, CEO.

Top executives within Walmart’s international division have been assigned new responsibilities including a new role for the former head of Asian operations overseeing mergers and acquisitions.