Strategy

L Brands subsidiary Victoria’s Secret has named a veteran of the specialty and intimate apparel verticals as its new CEO.

Jan Singer, who served as CEO of Spanx from June 2014 – March 2016, is now CEO of Victoria’s Secret. Previously, she held corporate VP positions at Nike from February 2004 – June 2014.

The formerly online only retailer The Wine Cellar Group isn’t afraid of competition. The company is pursuing its brick and mortar ambitions with a new store in the backyard of Amazon.com and Costco, the nation’s largest seller of wine.
 
Born online in 1990, The Wine Cellar Group opened its first store in 2012 and has since grown to nine locations. Its newest store will be a Wine Cellar Outlet and is set to open later this year in the Heritage Square shopping center in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah, Costco’s hometown.
 

Toys “R” Us Inc. is creating a new position of CTO and turning to a veteran of American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) to fill it.
 
Lance Wills will join Toys “R” Us as executive VP, global CTO effective June 13. He will report directly to chairman and CEO Dave Brandon. In his newly created role, Wills will oversee global and IT digital strategy, including governance and infrastructure.
 

The tenant mix is neighborhood shopping centers is western states is transforming as centers looking to remain relevant to shoppers and more effectively compete with other types of centers.

Rent-to-own retailer Rent-A-Center Inc. has named Angela Yochem to senior VP, IT and CIO.

Yochem’s responsibilities will include developing Rent-A-Center’s IT talent; expanding recently developed technologies; enhancing the company’s web, online and mobile solutions; and providing technology leadership for new opportunities.

Chain Store Age’s annual search for 10 retail real estate stars under the age of 40 years resulted in this: Ten youthful, creative, hard-charging industry executives.

Some are retailers, others are brokers or from shopping center companies. Three are women. One is under the age of 30. There’s a single Canadian in the bunch. Two work for CBRE. Each has studied the business, sought out mentors, and researched and taken on the issues of the day.

Wayfair Inc. has appointed Chad Ghosn VP of IT infrastructure and security.

Ghosn will oversee a large engineering team that is responsible for scaling Wayfair’s infrastructure system to meet customer demands and company needs. Before joining the online home furnishings retailer, Ghosn led the infrastructure team at Expedia Inc.

Prior to his role at Expedia, Ghosn spent more than a decade in various infrastructure leadership positions at Dell Inc. Previously, he led network operations for Kaiser Permanente.

Grocery giant Supervalu Inc. is one step closer to separating its troubled Save-A-Lot banner.
 
Supevalu, which initially announced it was exploring spinning off Save-A-Lot into a standalone, publicly traded company in July 2015, has completed the amendment of an existing $1.5 billion senior secured term loan agreement. This amendment permits the company and its subsidiaries to undertake certain transactions deemed necessary to enable a spinoff of Save-A-Lot.