Labor & Employment

Kroger has promoted Timothy Massa to group VP, human resources and labor relations.

Massa currently serves as VP of corporate human resources, talent development. In this expanded role, he will take responsibility for labor relations when Paul Heldman, EVP, secretary and general counsel, retires in May.

Columbus, Ohio -- DSW Inc. has appointed Mary Meixelsperger as CFO effective May 1. Meixelsperger replaces Douglas Probst, who is retiring from DSW on the same day.

William Blair & Company analyst Mark Miller has followed Walmart for a long time, but he didn’t have much good to say about the company when he issued a downgrade this week.

Miller lowered his rating on Walmart to underperform from market perform and cited some familiar and unfamiliar concerns. For example, one of his main concerns related to Walmart’s size and complexity which he contends reduces dynamism and growth.

DSW has appointed former Shopko executive Mary Meixelsperger as CFO, effective May 1. Meixelsperger replaces Douglas Probst, who is retiring from DSW on the same day.

"We are pleased that Mary is joining the DSW team," said president and CEO Michael MacDonald. "Mary is a seasoned executive with a breadth of experiences in merger integration, strategic systems planning and implementation, financial analysis and tax planning. With her leadership, we will position DSW for continued growth and progress towards our strategic goals."

New York -- Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble Inc., has sold 3.7 million shares of Barnes & Noble common stock. After the sale, his holdings are expected to represent approximately 20% of Barnes & Noble’s common stock outstanding.

Riggio said the sale is part of his long-term financial and estate planning and that he has no plans to sell more stock this calendar year.

Barnes & Noble chairman Leonard Riggio has sold a portion of his holdings of company stock.

Riggio said he sold 3.7 million shares of common stock, after which his holdings are expected to represent approximately 20% of Barnes & Noble’s common stock outstanding.

“After this sale I remain the company’s largest shareholder, a position I feel very good about,” said Riggio. “I love this company and I believe in its future as I do in all of the wonderful people who work here.”

Brentwood, Tenn. -- Tractor Supply Company announced that Lee Downing has been promoted to executive VP store operations, effective April 14. In conjunction with his promotion, he will assume added leadership responsibilities for the company's real estate team.

In addition to leading the store operations and store support administration teams, Downing will be responsible for the strategic new store site selection, facilitation of store openings and ongoing maintenance, in addition to other real estate functions.

The 2014 spring Goodwill Sale, a cause-marketing partnership between The Bon-Ton Stores and Goodwill Industries International, collected more than 2.5 million pounds of clothing and textiles to benefit Goodwill's job training and employment services.