Marketing

New York City -- Forest City Ratner Cos. announced that Kathryn Welch has been named retail group senior VP.

With 26 years of collective experience working with both New York City-based FCRC and its Cleveland-based corporate parent Forest City Enterprises, Welch now will assume oversight of all of FCRC’s retail projects. This includes retail properties under development as well as the company’s entire retail operating portfolio in the New York Metropolitan area.

Greensboro, N.C. -- The Fresh Market said Thursday it has promoted Sean Crane to executive VP and COO, reporting directly to Craig Carlock, president and CEO.

Crane was previously senior VP store operations. In his new role, he will lead store operations, merchandising and marketing functions.
 

CHICAGO — Claire's Stores has announced that Eugene Kahn , the company's CEO, has resigned. The company said its board of directors will conduct a search for a new CEO and will consider both internal and external candidates for this position. In the meantime, James Conroy , president of Claire's Stores, and Jay Friedman , president of Claire's North American Division, will form an interim office of the CEO, reporting to the board of directors. All of these management changes are effective immediately.

Chicago -- Claire’s Stores announced that Eugene S. Kahn has resigned. Kahn has served in the position since the company went private in 2007 in a $3.1 billion takeover by private-equity firm Apollo Management LP.

While the board will conduct a search for internal and external candidates, Claire's Stores President James G. Conroy and Jay Friedman, president of Claire's North American Division, will immediately form an interim office of the CEO.

Phoenix -- PetSmart said Friday it has appointed current CEO Robert Moran to also serve as the company’s chairman of the board. Moran, 61, has been president and CEO since 2009, and served as president and COO from 2001 to 2009.

The board of directors also appointed David K. Lenhardt as the company’s new president and COO. Lenhardt, 42, has been with PetSmart since 2000, most recently as executive VP, over store operations, human resources and information systems.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores Inc. reported Thursday that its first quarter profit rose 8% to $80.4 million, compared with $74.3 million in the year-ago period.

Sales for the period ended Nov. 26, 2011, rose to $2.15 billion from $2 billion in the year-ago period, missing Wall Street’s expected $2.17 billion in revenue. Same-store sales rose 4.1%.

Tulsa, Okla. -- Scott & Goble Architects said Friday that it has been renamed SGA Design Group, effective immediately.

The firm operates offices in Bentonville, Ark., Berkley, Calif., and Los Angeles, in addition to its Tulsa headquarters.

Clients include Walmart, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Sports Authority and Hobby Lobby.
 

MONROE, Conn. — Spire, a provider of actionable shopper analytics to leading retailers and manufacturers, has announced hat Mike McMahon has joined the company as president.

McMahon has spent half his career in consumer packaged goods and the other half working in marketing services.

"Mike will now take up a key leadership role at Spire, committed to fine tuning Spire's strategy, managing our growth and exceeding all client and partner expectations,” said Paul Taylor, CEO and founder of Spire.