Strategy

Oak Brook, Ill. -- Ace Hardware Corp. announced that John Venhuizen has been named president and CEO of the hardware cooperative. The appointment is part of a strategic leadership transition that was announced last fall.

In September, Venhuizen was named president and COO of Ace Hardware, while Ace’s outgoing leader Ray Griffith maintained the title of CEO.

Venhuizen is a 20+-year veteran of Ace Hardware, having served in a variety of capacities.

Naperville, Ill. -- OfficeMax Inc. announced Monday the unveiling of a new format, OfficeMax Business Solutions Center, in downtown Milwaukee. The 5,000-sq.-ft. store is designed to serve small businesses with services, solutions and products to help local entrepreneurs grow their companies.  

Located in The Shops of Grand Avenue, the new format replaces the previous OfficeMax store.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens has selected OMD to be its new media planning and buying agency of record. OMD will be responsible for U.S. and Puerto Rico activity related to traditional, multicultural, digital and mobile media planning and buying. The business will be led from OMD’s Chicago office.

CULVER CITY, Calif. — Glenn Hasen has joined Magento, the leading e-commerce platform part of the X.commerce division of Ebay, as VP global sales and channels. In his new role, Glenn will manage day-to-day operations of the sales organization and oversee merchant adoption, successful customer onboarding and retention of the Magento platform.

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. — Wet Seal has announced the promotions of the company’s two divisional merchandising managers for its Wet Seal brand. Kim Bajrech has been appointed SVP, general merchandising manager apparel, and Debbie Shinn has been appointed SVP, general merchandising manager accessories and ready-to-wear.

AURORA, Colo. — Walgreens announced Monday an expansion of its relationship with SolarCity, saying the new power systems would reduce more than 47.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over the next two decades.

The Colorado-based firm will install solar power systems at 22 Walgreens stores in 14 cities in the state over the next few months.

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy, an online service that allows parents to monitor their children's online shopping behavior, has appointed Iain Herd as global mobile product director.

With over thirteen years experience in product management, and seven years leading mobile initiatives at major corporations, Iain will be responsible for directing and managing Virtual Piggy’s Mobile First initiative, reporting directly to CEO and founder, Dr. Jo Webber.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores has elected James Gooch to its board of directors and as chair of the audit committee of the board of directors.

Walmart held an invite only media event at the San Bruno, Calif. headquarters of its global e-commerce subsidiary and several things were clear as news reports trickled out from the event.

For starters, Walmart is in full blown experimentation mode and probing many different aspects of how to serve digitally empowered customers even as customers are still figuring out how they want to be served.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Belk announced that the company, and its associates, customers and vendors contributed more than $19.3 million to local communities in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31. Of the total amount, Belk corporate dollars funded $6.2 million to more than 250 nonprofit organizations, with a focus on education, breast cancer research and awareness, and community strengthening.